Google Play has been expanding its user’s choice of billing services. This allows android developers to use other billing services other than Google’s own payment service. The piloting will be available in selected regions; the US, Brazil, and South Africa. The apps involved in the launch are Spotify and Bumble. Spotify started this rollout last week and Bumble is expected to follow suit.
The decision was announced by the company in March of this year with Spotify as the initial partner. With the steady expansion, Google invited non-game developers to apply for user choice of billing in some selected markets — Australia, Indonesia, Japan, the European Economic Area (EEA), and India. In a similar proposition, developers in the EEA were offered a discount commission from 3% to 4% for those who choose to opt-in in July. The services are planned to expand to 35 countries.
Spotify along with Google has been working together to make sure that the billing experience comes with ease for users. Bumble joined the partnership later and it’s expected to have similar assistance. Developers that will opt in for the option to include other billing services in their apps will have to follow assigned UX rules set by Google to ensure similar ease in billing experience across all Android apps.
Google Play billing and Spotify billing will appear side-by-side. Spotify users on Android will see a new user interface that allows them to choose how they want to pay for their Spotify subscription. If the user selects Google Play billing, they’ll be transitioned to the usual experience and will be able to track their subscription in the Google Play Store’s Subscription Center. If the user selects Spotify billing, they’ll then continue within Spotify’s own checkout process and user experience.
