Google will welcome new app stores in Android 12
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Google has already confirmed a new feature of the next version of the Android operating system that will arrive next year under its version number 12. And it has to do with its policies with developers and the inclusion of new ways to get hold of apps. Although it has not been particularly clear in the statements, we already know that next year there will be more facilities to install applications from other unofficial storesThat is, from outside the Google Play Store.
The message is somewhat cryptic, but it is clear that Google opens the doors to facilitate the use of other application stores in terminals that update to Android 12. Specifically, it states that they will implement changes “which make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices while being careful not to compromise the security measures that Android has” Will other app stores known to users come pre-installed? Will it be possible to choose which is the default store? Details that still need to be clarified. Google will offer more information about it soon, as they have added.
To date, Android mobile users can install these application stores by downloading an APK file from the website of the company that created it.There are even Android devices with two application stores, as is the case of Samsung that have the Galaxy Store So there are many loose fringes that Google must clarify .
The controversy: Epic Games and its Fortnite
This movement is due to the controversy raised in the case of Epic Games and its game Fortnite. Given the refusal to want to pay a percentage of all its sales to Apple and Google through their respective app stores, Epic Games launched its own payment method bypassing these channels to get more profit. A measure that goes against the Google and Apple application stores, which expelled Fortnite last August, leaving millions of users in limbo without updates or news. And many others without the option to download the game.
Why can't I find Fortnite to download on the Google Play Store and App Store
It seems that Google is willing, then, to give up. But not quite. With this announced measure, it would allow the presence of the Epic Games Store, but it remains intransigent with purchases within the Google Play Store applications, which will continue to go through its service and, therefore, applying their profit percentages.
Where it seems that Google will respect the new payment channels is in those businesses that have begun to sell their products through their applications due to digitalization forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. In these cases, companies will not be forced to spend their purchases in the Google Play Store system, thus avoiding any type of toll or bite from Google. Of course, Google has only confirmed that this measure will be carried out during the next 12 months We will have to see what happens next.
At the moment there are many details to clarify and many rough edges to polish.But Google has a whole year before the launch of Android 12 to refine all this information and measurements. Will Android users have protection on applications that come from outside the Google Play Store? Will it change the user experience of Android phones? Will it usher in a new era of economic openness and new platforms and stores on which to distribute content? Only time will tell.
