Here are a few of the stories that caught my attention in the last couple days
Google Takes Harder Stance on 30 Percent Play Store Cut
In a move I will call unusual, Google is actually getting more strict on the 30% policy in its Play Store for Android. Google has the same 30% policy that Apple does, but it has applied it much more loosely over the years. Google has looked the other way if apps and services used their own payment methods instead of using the Google Play Store where Google takes a 30% cut. As of next week, Google will be informing developers that it will begin enforcing that policy. Apps like Netflix and Spotify, among others, use their own payment method to allow Android users to subscribe from within the app. All developers will either need to switch to Google Pay, or stop taking subscriptions through their apps.
This is a very curious move in light of the scrutiny and legal actions being taken against Apple and Google for these exact practices. That Google would move even more towards that model is….. strange.
It should be worth noting that this only effects apps distributed through the Google Play Store. Android does allow for apps to be installed outside of an app store, or entire third party app stores to be installed. Apps installed through these methods are not subject to the Google Play 30% cut because they are not distributed through that method. That is Google’s legal argument.
https://www.androidcentral.com/google-set-double-down-controversial-30-play-store-cut
Amazon announced 234987234 Products
That may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. Amazon has, for a couple years had a fall hardware event where it updates a slew of hardware products, and introduces new ones. This year, it was conducted virtually, and there was a lot. I won’t go through everything in detail, but there are a few things of note.
Amazon’s first smart home device, the echo smart speaker, gets its biggest redesign ever. Instead of cylindrical devices, the new Echo and Echo dots are spherical, which gives them a much more pleasing look.
The Echo Show 10 is a smart home device with a 10” display. Google and Amazon have been making these types of devices for a couple years now, but the twist with the Echo Show 10 is that the screen is mounted on an articulating arm which can move automatically to face the user using the front facing camera. This has interesting use cases for areas like the kitchen, where a recipe can be kept on the screen and swivel back and forth so it always faces the person who needs to look at it.
The weirdest launch was the Amazon Ring Always Home Cam. This product is a security camera which is attached to a drone that is designed to fly inside a house. The idea, according to Amazon, is that when no one is home the device can detect if there is movement, or work in conjunction with Amazon’s other Ring security products, and the Always Home Cam can lift off from its cradle and fly to where the disturbance may be, giving a mobile security camera. I think I’ll pass…..
Amazon also announced new Eero 6 mesh wifi routers, which update it’s popular eero wifi system with Wifi 6, as well as two new Fire TV sticks designed for 1080p TV’s to replace the older model that was significantly slower than the model designed for 4k TV’s.
https://www.androidcentral.com/everything-amazon-announced-its-september-2020-hardware-event
Amazon’s big announcement Was Luna, a Game Streaming Service
The big surprise announcement from Amazon was that it is getting into the Streaming Game… game… taking on Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Game Streaming (seriously, that name) and Google Stadia. Luna is a streaming service for games and it is coming to Fire TV, PC, Mac, iPhone, and iPad at launch. Support for Android is “coming soon.”
The iPhone and iPad support raised some eyebrows because of the very public fights with Microsoft and Google over the App store rules. But Luna Is coming to those platforms via a Progressive Web App, which means it is accessible through the Safari Web Browser on iOS and iPadOS. It will be very interesting to see how well that works.
Luna is launching in early access in the US soon, with no word on when it will launch in other markets. The “introductory price” is $6 USD per month. There will be “more than 100” games available at launch, including some well known, if slightly older AAA titles.
I don’t know how this well end, but I think Amazon has a bigger chance of being successful in this space than Google does.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/24/21451371/amazon-luna-cloud-gaming-service-twitch-alexa-controller
Facebook Gets Small Win Against Apple
A few weeks ago it was reported that Apple blocked a Facebook app update on iOS because it told users that if they made a purchase for a paid event through the iOS app, Apple would take 30%. This was one of many instances of backlash against Apple over a short period of time. This week, Apple and Facebook have come to an agreement of sorts, with Apple agreeing to allow Facebook to use Facebook Pay for transactions for paid Facebook events created by small businesses. This exception to the App Store policies will be in place until the end of 2020. Apple says it is due to COVID-19 affecting many small businesses, and that this is a small step it can take to help.