"Google App 30% Toll, Cost Passed to Consumers" Academic Community Also Concerned

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] Concerns have been raised that if Google enforces in-app payments and a 30% payment commission fee, the burden on consumers will increase.

Professor Kim Jeonghwan of the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting at Pukyong National University cited data from the Korea Mobile Industry Association at the special seminar "Google's App Market Policy Changes and the Local Ecosystem" held by the Korean Media Management Association on the 27th, stating, "Google takes about 65% of the revenue generated in the domestic mobile content market, Apple accounts for 25%, and One Store holds about 10%."

Professor Kim conducted interviews with 12 content and game companies to analyze how Google's policy changes would affect the domestic market.

The survey results showed that content providers believe that if the commission burden increases, they have no choice but to pass the costs on to consumers.

Professor Kim expressed concern, saying, "Google's policy changes will accelerate the rich-get-richer and poor-get-poorer phenomenon within the ecosystem," and "The part where businesses suffer a hit to their profits will directly link to prices. There is a 100% possibility that the commission fees imposed on content providers will be passed on to users as is."

He added, "Businesses responded that the government, including the Fair Trade Commission, should intervene before becoming a 'digital colony,'" and noted, "From a regulatory perspective, there is also a view that this constitutes 'reverse discrimination' against domestic companies."

He said, "Ultimately, Google, which secured its market position by advocating an open policy unlike Apple, seems to be a problem that requires a responsible approach," and advised, "A cooperative operation among related government agencies is also necessary, such as the Fair Trade Commission investigating issues like Google's pre-installation of its own apps."

Professor Jeong Yunhyuk of the Department of Media at Korea University announced that users' perceptions are similar to those of businesses.

Content users also responded that Google's 30% commission fee is excessive (86.7%), and the proportion who answered that Google's policy change is 'unfair' (59.8%) was seven times higher than those who said it is 'fair' (8.9%).

The proportion who said sanctions on Google's commission policy are 'necessary' (58.5%) was about five times higher than those who said 'not necessary' (12.5%), and 59.4% of participants responded that government intervention is needed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.