Google to pay $90Mn to settle legal fight with app developers

Alphabet Inc's Google has agreed to pay $90 million to settle a legal fight with app developers over the money they earned creating apps for Android smartphones and for alluring users to make in-app purchases.

The app developers had accused Google of using agreements with smartphone makers, technical barriers and revenue sharing agreements to effectively close the app ecosystem and averted most payments through its Google Play billing system with a default service fee of 30%.

There were likely 48,000 app developers eligible to apply for the $90 million fund, and the minimum payout is $250. As part of the proposed settlement, Google would put $90 million in a fund to support app developers who made $2 million or less in annual revenue from 2016-2021.

Google said it would also charge developers a 15% commission on their first million in revenue from the Google Play Store each year. It started doing this in 2021. Google added, “A vast majority of U.S. developers who earned revenue through Google Play will be eligible to receive money from this fund, if they choose.”