South Korea’s National Assembly passed a law that prohibits app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing developers to use their payment systems within apps.
South Korea is apparently the first country in the world to pass such a law, which will become law when signed by the president, whose party supported the legislation.
Apple and Google have faced criticism from some industries for requiring app developers to use their own in-app purchasing systems, for which both companies receive a commission of up to 30%.
As both companies argue, These commissions help pay for the maintenance costs of the app stores. In addition to requiring a large infrastructure, they have reviewers who evaluate applications before accepting them.
The new law prohibits app store operators from requiring these payment systems, which means they must allow alternative forms of payment. Under the law, the ban is intended to promote fairer competition.
The project aims to avoid any kind of retaliation against developers, prohibiting companies from imposing any unjustified delay in approving orders.
Apple criticized the key in a statement Tuesday, saying that “It will put users who buy digital products from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections and make it difficult to manage their purchases.” and will make parental controls and other resources less effective.
“We believe that user confidence in App Store purchases will decline as a result of this legislation” and will lead to fewer opportunities for Korean app developers”said the company.
For your part, Google said it is studying how to comply with the legislation. “Google Play offers much more than payment processing, and our service fee helps keep Android free, giving developers the tools and global platform to reach billions of consumers around the world.”said in a statement.
“And just as it costs developers money to create an app, it costs us to build and maintain an operating system and an app store. We’ll reflect on how to comply with this law while maintaining a model that supports a high-quality operating system and app store, and we’ll share more in the coming weeks. “, he said.
Apple announced last week that iPhone app developers will be able to email users about other ways to pay for digital subscriptions outside of the App Store.