According to the BBC, Amazon is making a major change to how its shopping app on Android works, basically blocking users from purchasing and downloading digital content through the app. Instead, those users will have to either access ebooks from the separate Kindle app or use a web browser to download any other kind of digital content. Curiously, streaming videos and music from the shopping app is still allowed.
On the one hand, this now puts the Android app on the same level as the iOS app, which never allowed downloading ebooks from the shopping app right from the start. That is due to the same fees imposed by Apple and, now, Google. Buying content from the Kindle app still works as normal, though it’s possible that could change soon, as well.
In response to new laws and court rulings, Google and Apple are allowing third-party or external billing systems to be used by apps that they distribute, but with some catches. For example, Google still exacts a small fee even if an app uses a different payment system, which could make the whole thing moot and academic anyway. These new policies are forcing content providers such as Amazon, Kobo, and even Netflix to reconsider their business strategies on Android, though some like Spotify claim to have been able to strike a lucrative compromise with Google to be exempted.
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