In the context of the legal battle between Google and Epic Games an incentive program developed by Google was revealed. With this maneuver, the American company guaranteed that adherent smartphones would only use its services and applications.
The program in question is known as the “Premier Device Program”. Its objective was to ensure that the adherent brands would impede the installation of applications outside the Play Store, Google’s official store.
Google increased advertising revenue in exchange for the exclusivity of its services
The program that is now exposed to the public will have started in 2019. It is an understanding celebrated between Google and its partners that develop smartphones for the use of Android and its services.
In return, Google has increased the percentage of profit that companies receive from the revenue generated by searches carried out on their equipment. Strictly speaking, the participants of the “Premier Device Program” jumped from the usual 8% to the 12% of recipes.
Furthermore, Google has enticed names like LG or Motorola with 3% to 6% of fees charged on the Play Store. All they had to do was use Google’s services by default and on an exclusive basis on their equipment.
This understanding includes Google’s app store, the Play Store. Indeed, the brands had to ensure that this was in force exclusively on their Android smartphones, blocking any application that could install APK’s outside the American app store.
Xiaomi, Sony, Realme and OnePlus are some of the names associated with the program
Everything indicates that this incentive program was managed in secrecy, so we may never know the real extent of its members. Still, some big names like Xiaomi, Sony, Sharp and BBK Electronics, which include Oppo, OnePlus, Realme and Vivo, are advanced.
With regard to these brands, it is advanced that they have committed to submit up to 70% of their portfolio to the rules imposed by Google. Something that helps justify the blockade that Google imposed on OnePlus and LG for the installation of the Epic Games Store.
HMD Global, holder of Nokia’s rights, also appears in the group of adherents to the “Premier Device Program.” This has pledged to subjugate all of its equipment to Google’s impositions, justifying the continuous bet on Android One.
It is also mentioned that the HMD Global contract began in December 2019 and runs until November 30, 2022. This means that the “Premier Device Program” may not yet be extinguished and there may be more brands legally linked to Google’s impositions.
Epic Games argues that this program has always been managed out of public knowledge. In fact, brands would be prohibited from discussing the terms of this agreement with third parties without Google’s approval.
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