A recent EU ruling has forced Google to start charging device manufacturers who want to install specific Google apps, including the Google Play Store, and according to internal Google documents, it could be charging as much as $40 per device.
Google made an announcement on Tuesday in which it updated the terms of licensing agreements that it makes with Android device makers, allowing them to install Google Play Store and other apps onto devices that are destined to be sold in the European Union. This is to allow it to charge device makers a fee rather than offering them up as part of free licenses, as it has done thus far.
Since then, The Verge has been able to get its hands on internal Google documents, and it appears that individual device costs could be as high as $40 apiece if manufacturers want to install Google Mobile Services, a collection of apps that includes Google Play Store, on devices after February 1st, 2019. Interestingly, this fee could be massively reduced depending on the devices that are being sold. As an example, smartphones with displays of 500ppi or more will need to pay $40 to license the apps, but those with sub-400ppi will pay just $10. Anything below that will see a $2.50 charge. Furthermore, EU countries are being split into three different tiers, with the highest being made up of Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
The same documents also suggest that any manufacturer willing to install Chrome or Google Search products could expect to see the fees reduced, although we do wonder what government bodies would make of that.
Whether any of this will have an impact on the kinds of devices sold in these countries remains to be seen, but it is possible that this will impact the prices at which devices are sold if manufacturers decide to pass the fees on.
(Source: The Verge)
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