Video, audio, book apps on Play Store may have to pay only 6% commission: Report

Earlier, Google had announced that it would charge a 30% commission under the Play Store commission policy

Small app developers as well as startups that offer video, audio or book content may have to pay a commission of only 6 per cent for in-app purchases on Google Play Store, according to a report by The Economics Times.

On the other hand, other apps will have to pay 11 per cent commission if they opt for an alternative billing mechanism. The following 6 per cent and 11 per cent commissions will only apply to non-gaming apps with revenues of less than $1 million a year.

Earlier, Google had announced that it would charge a 30 per cent commission under the Play Store commission policy.

Google’s global vice president for government affairs and public policy Wilson White explained that when app developers opt for alternative billing options, Google will forego the cost of processing payments through credit cards or debit cards, which works out to be approximately 4 per cent. "So, in user choice billing, if the user chooses the developers billing, as opposed to Google Play Store billing, the service fee will be reduced by 4 per cent, which is the kind of generalised cost of doing the payment processing. But other than that, all the other services are the same," he said.

The Play Store commission will come into effect in India from October 31.

Murugavel Janakiraman, Managing Director of Matrinmony.com told the publication that they have not yet heard about the reduction in commission. However, he added that he is aware of the talks that Google will implement the policy on October 31.