Unified Payments Interface — commonly known as UPI — has become the most popular mobile payment route for P2P and merchant payments in India, and now Google’s stepping up with an updated UPI functionality to meet demand. Google Play has enabled users in the South Asian country to make subscription-based purchases using UPI. On Tuesday, Google announced that it introduced UPI Autopay as a payment option on the Play Store to allow its users in the country to… Source link
Read More »Google’s resistance to third party Play store payments eases • The Register
Google’s resistance to allowing third-party payment systems to touch its Play digital store appear to be ebbing away, with the search and ads giant last week announcing it has commenced tests of payment choice in the USA. Citing “strong interest from developers around the world” after a May 2022 announcement of third=party payments pilot in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, and the European Economic Area, Google last week declared “that based on the positive response and initial… Source link
Read More »Google Play to pilot third-party billing in new markets, including U.S.; Bumble joins Spotify as early tester • TechCrunch
Google today announced it’s expanding its user choice billing pilot, which allows Android app developers to use other payment systems besides Google’s own. The program will now become available to new markets, including the U.S., Brazil and South Africa, and Bumble will now join Spotify as one of the pilot testers. Google additionally announced Spotify will now begin rolling out its implementation of the program starting this week. The company had first announced its intention to… Source link
Read More »Google Play Games for PC program expands to the US and seven other countries • TechCrunch
Google is expanding its Google Play for PC program to eight more countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore in open beta. That means all players in these regions with Windows systems that meet the minimum requirements can access Google Play on a desktop computer. The company first launched the program under a limited test in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia. Later it expanded it to all… Source link
Read More »Google Launches New Beta to Play Android Games on PC
Android released its Google Play Games launcher beta to western audiences Tuesday, claiming you can save your progress between multiple devices.Gif: Google Are you growing tired of staring at your 5 by 2 inch screen to play Android mobile games? Well, on Tuesday, Google’s Android Developers blog announced that the company’s launching a new beta for a platform that will let users play their Android games on PC. 01:25 Randall Park’s Favorite Superheroes Monday 5:02PM The company had already… Source link
Read More »Google Play revamp to highlight higher-quality apps, offer new promotional capabilities • TechCrunch
Google today announced it’s making several changes to the Google Play Store that will impact Android apps’ discoverability, how developers can market their apps to consumers and various trust and safety concerns. Most importantly, Google is now advising developers that the Play Store will begin to prioritize apps that deliver on both technical and in-app quality by promoting them in more places across the Play Store where they can be discovered by consumers. The changes hint at… Source link
Read More »Google filing says EU’s antitrust division is investigating Play Store practices • TechCrunch
A Google regulatory filing appears to have confirmed rumors in recent months that the European Union’s competition division is looking into how it operates its smartphone app store, the Play Store. However TechCrunch understands that no formal EU investigation into the Play Store has been opened at this stage. The SEC Form 10-Q, filed by Google’s parent Alphabet (and spotted earlier by Reuters), does make mention of “formal” investigations being opened into Google Play’s… Source link
Read More »NBA tanking is a problem, so here is one possible solution to encourage quality regular-season play
The NBA’s current lottery system incentivizes less-than-blessed franchises to do all they can to do as little as possible in order to be in the best position to draft someone like, say, Victor Wembanyama. The league has tried various initiatives to curb the scourge that is tanking — something NBA commissioner Adam Silver is so concerned about he addressed it to team employees with the Phoenix Suns recently — a franchise that seemingly has very little chance of such a worry. As… Source link
Read More »India fines Google $113 million, orders to permit third-party payments in Play Store • TechCrunch
India’s antitrust watchdog has hit Google with a $113 million fine for abusing the dominant position of its Google Play Store and ordered the firm to allow app developers to use third-party payments processing services for in-app purchases or for purchasing apps, the second such penalty on the Android-maker in just as many weeks in its largest market by users. The Competition Commission of India, which opened the probe into Google in late 2020, said mandating developers to use… Source link
Read More »Play Store revamp, Google antitrust suit updates, BeReal’s real traction • TechCrunch
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. Global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by the pandemic has slowed down. But overall, the app economy is continuing to grow, having produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and… Source link
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