Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday sought to rebut criticism that it selectively enforces its 30% mobile app store tax, demanding that the over 3% apps selling digital items without complying follow the rules within a year.
The change follows lawsuits by “Fortnite” video game maker Epic Games last month accusing Google and Apple Inc of anticompetitive conduct. Apps sold on the tech leaders’ stores are required to use their payment systems so they can collect a portion of sales, which developers describe as a tax. The companies are defending the allegations.
App stores are a fast-growing business as sales of Google’s search ads and Apple’s iPhone flatten out.
Google has argued that it allows other companies to operate app stores within its Android software. On Monday, the company said it would make changes in next year’s version of Android to make it easier to use other app stores on its devices without compromising safety.
In the post, Google used Epic as an example of an app developer benefiting from Android’s third-party app stores — noting the availability of Fortnite on Epic and Samsung’s app stores. But Epic, in its complaint, said Google held a monopoly over app distribution, because more than 90 percent of app downloads on Android devices come through the Google Play Store.
