Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile

Apple joins Google in allowing alternative app store payment systems in South Korea

Michael Allison
By

As a response to a South Korean law passed last year, Apple will now allow third-party developers to offer their own alternate payment services for purchases made through the App Store. The move comes after Google announced plans to do the same in late 2021.

Finally, coming into compliance with the South Korean Telecommunications Business Act, the company’s submitted plans that would allow third-party developers to support alternate payment systems. While Apple will still take service fees, it’ll be less than the 30% currently charges as the company will no longer need to process payments.

Recommended Videos

“We look forward to working with the KCC and our developer community on a solution that benefits our Korean users. Apple has a great deal of respect for Korea’s laws and a strong history of collaboration with the country’s talented app developers. Our work will always be guided by keeping the App Store a safe and trusted place for our users to download the apps they love,” Apple said in a statement as reported by the Korean Yonhap News Agency. This is a change from the company’s initial reaction, which had been to highlight all the negatives the move would have on their business.

“The Telecommunications Business Act will put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections, make it difficult to manage their purchases, and features like Ask to Buy and Parental Controls will become less effective. We believe user trust in App Store purchases will decrease as a result of this legislation — leading to fewer opportunities for the over 482,000 registered developers in Korea who have earned more than 8.55 trillion (won) to date with Apple,” an Apple spokesperson told Digital Trends in August 2021.

While preferable to the wild-west that existed prior to App Stores becoming popular, Apple and Google have found themselves under fire for forcing developers to funnel all payments through their in-built payment systems in exchange for a (variable) 30% fee. Both companies have argued that the fees justify a lot more than just payment processing  — Google’s fees fund the development of Android, for example, but that hasn’t been enough to stop courts from demanding a change to the status quo. Similar pressure from the Japanese government led the company to open up access to outside links in “reader apps.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Michael Allison
Michael Allison
Mobile News Writer
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
Don’t listen to billionaires like Elon Musk — app stores are fantastic
App store icon showing three notifications.

It’s time to celebrate the app store. Not just Apple’s App Store, but Google Play too. They are digital toy shops, full of wonders and joy, available to everyone who walks through the virtual door. When you’re inside you feel safe and secure, everything is in place for you to quickly pay for all your new things, so you walk away happy and satisfied.

App stores are the lifeblood of our smartphones, and trust me — you don’t want to know what it would be like without them. But let's imagine it for a moment because there has been a lot of noise over the past few days about app stores being bad places. Don’t listen, because this is only true if you’re a billionaire wanting to become, er, more of a billionaire.
Confidence and convenience

Read more
App subscription fatigue is quickly ruining my smartphone
App Store displayed on an iPhone 14 Pro against a pink background

When I first got an iPhone in 2008, I remember checking out web apps, which were basically websites that I would keep bookmarked on the home screen. Every time I opened them up, they somehow didn’t look like I just launched mobile Safari. Eventually, Apple launched the App Store in July 2008, mostly eliminating the need for antiquated web apps.

Since the App Store opened up, we've gotten to see innovative new apps and games that took our iPhones to a completely new level — showing us what our devices were capable of. I was excited to see and hear about new apps for a variety of things, from task managers to camera replacement apps to photo editors to journals and so much more. Games were also making use of the iPhone’s accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, so it wasn’t just always about touchscreen controls.

Read more
This EU law could force Apple to open up iMessage and the App Store
Someone holding an iPhone 14 with the display turned on.

The EU's Digital Markets Act (or DMA) has gone into force today. It could force Apple to open up the iPhone's iMessage and app-buying platforms to third-party apps and services. Companies that fall afoul of the act could be fined up to 20% of global turnover. Apple has previously criticized the DMA for being a "blunt instrument."

The DMA aims to allow smaller services to compete more equitably with larger ones. This means that companies with a certain number of users, labeled as gatekeepers, would have to make their platforms interoperable with smaller ones. Large platforms like Facebook or iMessage, for example, would be required to open up, while something like Signal could scrape by.

Read more