The lede in the source seems to focus on contingency plans for Android Apps around the Google Play Store. I suspect something is being misunderstood by the linked author.
EDIT: User gruez posted an image of the article here https://i.imgur.com/umOEvs7.jpg. There is one line from a single unattributed source describing a "one-time experiment several years ago"
This is original reporting by The Information. They are the source of it, but they're behind a paywall so we get links to blog posts about it. If you want the source, you have to deal with a paywall.
EDIT: User gruez posted an image of the article here https://i.imgur.com/umOEvs7.jpg. There is one line from a single unattributed source describing a "one-time experiment several years ago"