Alphabet will have to pay $700 million and change its Google Play policies because its Play Store illegally dominates the market for Android mobile apps, according to antitrust complaints filed by XNUMX state and consumer attorneys general. 
The agreement, revealed in a court filing late Monday, calls for changes to Google Play's policies aimed at reducing barriers to competition in app markets and payment processing. The lawsuits filed in a federal court in California said the company was making billions of dollars from selling and distributing apps through Google Play.
Google will also have to make a number of changes to its business practices as part of the settlement.
In a blog post, the company reports:
Optimizing sideloading while prioritizing security: Unlike iOS, Android users have the option to sideload apps, meaning they can download them directly from a developer's website without going through Google Play. While we maintain that it is critical to our security efforts to inform users that sideloading can pose risks, as part of our settlement we will further simplify the process and inform users of these potential risks.
Extending a user's choice charge to more people: App and game developers will be able to implement an alternative billing option alongside the Google Play billing system for their US users, who will then be able to choose which option to use when making purchases within of an application. We've been piloting user-choice pricing in the US for over a year, and now we're expanding it further.
Expanding open communication about prices: We've always given developers more ways to interact with their customers than iOS and other operating systems. For example, Google Play allows developers to freely communicate with their customers outside of the app about subscription offers or lower-cost options available in a competing app store or on the developer's website. This openness stimulates competition and will benefit consumers and developers. As part of user choice pricing, which we're expanding with today's new settlement announcement, developers will also be able to display different in-app pricing options when a user makes a digital purchase.
