After the fine imposed by the European Union for abuse of dominant position, Google responded by saying that from October 29 will start to charge a kind of fee to manufacturers to install their applications on their phones, such as Google Play Store. The total amount was unknown, but confidential documents to which The Verge has had access claim that the figure will be $ 40 per device.
According to the media, the $ 40 will be to "install the set of Google Play Services applications," which includes the app store. Be that as it may, the rates vary according to the country and the type of device. They will begin to apply to all devices activated as of February 1, 2019.
New pack of Google Mobile Services
So far the collection of Google Mobile Services applications (GMS) included 11 Google applications that had to come from the factory on Android devices. Now there are nine applications after Chrome and the Google application. Now in the new license manufacturers will have to pay up to $ 40 to be able to install these applications in the factory:
- Google Play Store
- Youtube
- Gmail
- Google Maps
- Google Photos
- Google Drive
- Google Duo
- Google Play Music
- Google Play Movies
The Google Mobile Services license is more basic, the one that every manufacturer needs to get to put the Google Play Store application store on their devices. In addition to these nine applications, they also include Google APIs (Google Play Services), which guarantee full compatibility with all Google Play applications. Without a license the device will not have Google Play.
The price of the licenses depends on the country and screen of the device. According to The Verge the maximum to pay will be $ 40 for high-end phones.
New separate license, do not pay anything?
Manufacturers that want to integrate Google Finder, Google Assistant, Google Lens, Google Podcasts or the Chrome browser will have to pay for a new separate license. This new separate license includes the previous applications together with the two applications fined by the European Commission:
- Google App
- Chrome
The price of this new separate license is negotiable. Manufacturers may reach an agreement with Google to partially pay for the license, or not pay anything, for the applications if they include the Google and Chrome application. Therefore, if the manufacturer chooses to put the entire complete collection of Google applications, it could avoid having to pay. This depends on the agreement reached by Google with the manufacturer.
It seems that this new separate license could be the new free license of Google for Android, or at least the cost would be symbolic.
Android One
Android One devices are not affected by these changes. With this version of the operating system Google includes another license and reaches other agreements with the manufacturers.