[JCharante]

> This is insane (because there are no alternatives to Play Market).

This is not true? Huawei uses android but is banned from the US so Google can't take their money. Guess what... you don't need Google Play to distribute apps.

[lxgr]

Name a popular Android app that's not distributed through Google Play outside of China.

Of course that could also just mean that the market agrees that Google's store is just the absolute best, and paying Google 30% (or 0% if you're really cool) is a steal – we just don't know since we haven't ran that particular experiment anywhere in the world.

We are probably about to, in the EU, though.

[zamadatix]

Fortnite - alright that one may be stirring the pot a little... but it is honestly a good example. Installs are in the tens (hundreds total?) of millions and the revenue is regularly over 5 billion per year. Honestly it's not "what popular app" that's the problem, it's "what are unpopular apps supposed to do".

I still think it'd be good to de-bundle distribution fees from payment channels though.

[dewey]

Fortnite?

https://www.fortnite.com/mobile/android/new-device?lang=en

[bearjaws]

I doubt many people can follow the Fortnite playbook of making a multi billion dollar game just to avoid the Play store...

[dewey]

No doubt, but that's not what I responded to.

[JCharante]

moving goal posts are we?

[JCharante]

YouTube Vanced until last year. Ad-free youtube client not distributed through the play store. Super popular as it gave youtube premium features for free.

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

Their issue doesn't seem to be with Google Play but being forced to use Google Billing?

[JCharante]

You don't have to use Google Billing if you don't use Google Play Store

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

Yes, their whole point is that these things shouldn't be coupled so tightly.