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Google App Suite Costs as Much as $40 Per Phone Under New EU Android Deal (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

Android manufacturers will have to pay Google a surprisingly high cost in Europe in order to include Google's Play Store and other mobile apps on their devices, according to documents obtained by The Verge. From the report: A confidential fee schedule shows costs as high as $40 per device to install the "Google Mobile Services" suite of apps, which includes the Google Play Store. The new fees vary depending on country and device type, and it would apply to devices activated on or after February 1st, 2019. But phone manufacturers may not actually have to shoulder that cost: Google is also offering separate agreements to cover some or all of the licensing costs for companies that choose to install Chrome and Google search on their devices as well, according to a person familiar with the terms. Google declined to comment.

3 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Re:But ... by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Freedom was never free. Everything has a price.

    The price for liberty is quite messy and often uncontrollable. That is part of what freedom means.

    On the other hand, if you like order, then suck up and welcome your new Fascist overlords. But at least the trains run on time huh?

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  2. Re:Retaliation... by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sounds to me like Google really didn't like the EU hampering their vertical integration plans and are retaliating by raising the costs of smartphones to people living in the EU area. Then again if you are a company with a motto as benign as "Don't be evil" only to get rid of it then retaliation is probably going to be your standard response to consumer protection laws being enforced.

    Not sure it's evil to do what you've been told to do. $40 is almost certainly fair market value for the Google suite, maybe even less than FMV.

    The problem here is the EU hasn't been able to see the wood for the trees. It assumes the problem is the bundling of search and has gone overboard trying to prevent that, when in fact that's not what most people are concerned about. So a stupid decision has been made, Google has protested, they've been overruled, now they're doing what they've been ordered to do, and you're blaming them for it.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  3. revenge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    No, Samantha, that's not revenge. That's the cost of doing business. Your holy bureaucracy decided that free was bad, so now you must be charged, as your holy bureaucrats must be paid a tax on what you must be charged. This isn't a petty revenge, it's a pretty reasonable estimate of the value of the software.