It’s time to dig into the security argument. But Epic gets to dig into it first.
Is Google justified in charging its fees because it protects Android users?
Before the break, we saw Google present an internal slide that included the phrase: “75% of Android Owners say Google Play is a safe place to get apps even while less than half are aware of Google Play Protect.”
Where by “Vjeran” I mean this guy, our Verge supervising producer and my dear collaborator on gadget videos.
I really do use the blue cushion every single day in court. Keeps this laptop from slipping off my lap.
We’re going on lunch, but Google’s final question before Rasanen was dismissed was a pointed one — she was asked to tell the court what she saw on the final slide Epic showed.
It was a presentation titled “What we worry about.” She said: “There’s an Apple logo on that phone.”
Epic had previously pointed out that several of Google’s presentations about competition made no mention of Apple.
Partners agreed “not to agitate”? That seems wild if true — it’s the language in an email from former Google Play boss Jamie Rosenberg, though he wasn’t asked about it Monday on the stand, and we didn’t really get to the heart of it now that Epic is questioning Rasanen again.
Epic, by the way, did not miss that paragraph about the “world of pain.” Hueston made sure the jury saw it and heard it.
An “Android Brand Health Report” showed a “concerning trend for security,” with a declining number of people reporting they thought Android phones were secure: from 74 percent in March to 70 percent in June.
“Which store is a safe place to get apps?” Android declined from 78 percent to 75 percent, while iOS went up from 80 percent to 84 percent in three months. I wonder if Google had anything related to security around that time that made the news?
Rasanen points out that because Android has over 3 billion phones “out there in the world,” 6 percent of switchers represents “huge numbers of people.”
“6 percent may seem like a small number, but out of 3 billion...” she does the math, seemingly instantly, and says it’s 180 million people potentially switching.
On the giant spreadsheet we saw earlier, Google points out a different number than Epic did: nearly 14 percent of Android users switch to iOS in the United States specifically, according to Google’s internal estimates.
Part of an internal Google email about how to handle developers worried Google Play Billing was making it too easy for users to cancel subscriptions:
he seems to be upset that we’re allowing our users to easily manager their subs vs. being locked into their product, which is not putting their users first.
Another Googler replied:
this is actually incredibly important to our business to respect user intent. We believes it yields better long term outcomes for developers as well when they allow their users choice when it comes to their products, even if that is leaving.
Here is part of that same 2018 email that Google did not try to highlight for the jury, for obvious reasons:
lastly, we then compute a 30% rev share on top of these numbers and we’re looking at a world of pain
It’s been tough to get a read on the jury so far in this case, but I think it’s fair to say many of them don’t find Google Play Billing exceptions very riveting.
One yawned. I saw another looking down at his hands. Some were looking around the room, etc. Maybe they’re just hungry. We’re 23 minutes away from lunch.
The jurors have typically been extremely attentive. This is the first time in seven days I’ve noticed otherwise.
Google Play biz dev and developer partner Kirsten Rasanen, explaining how Google built some of its language around mandated Google Play Billing for in-app purchases and what did count as an exception. (Physical goods, for example.)
She claims fairness was another reason: it was a firm rule because Google didn’t want to disadvantage smaller developers.
There was also a suggestion that security was a reason, that Google wanted to be responsible since it was effectively selling the apps, but I don’t follow how that logic applies to mandating GPB. Maybe I missed it.
I did it recently, and it did take a while to get my phone set up just the way I liked, but I had the essentials ready to go on Android (coming from iPhone) pretty fast. Same was true when I switched the other way in 2018.
