Want to link from Google’s app store to your app? That’ll be $2–4 per install
TL;DR
Google has set a January 28th deadline for developers to enroll in programs for alternative billing and external content links, but these come with high fees of $2–4 per install, despite a court order to open Android to third-party app stores.
Today was the deadline for Google to reveal how it's complying with Judge James Donato's order to crack open Android for third-party app stores, stop illegally tying its Google Play Billing system to its app store, and let developers link to ways to download their apps outside the Play Store in the US.
But Google isn't just letting app developers do things however and whenever they'd like. The company's quietly updated its support pages with a January 28th deadline to enroll in specific Google programs for "alternative billing" and "external content links" - and these programs will come with large alternative fees of their own, assuming Jud …