Google’s app store policy change and the responses elicited from mobile content firms: A case study on Korea’s app store ecosystem

Abstract

The current app store market is dominated by major platform firms that control mobile operating systems, such as Apple iOS and Google Android. While Apple has maintained strict control over its app store, Google has opted for a more lenient policy, until March 2022, when it would enforce its proprietary billing systems onto all paid and in-app purchases. This study examines the impact of Google’s policy change on local Korean markets, especially the app store market, which features local app stores with a small but notable presence. By analyzing the responses of 18 managers, each of whom works for a different mobile content firm, this study examines specifically the probable strategies that mobile content firms can implement in response to Google’s in-app purchase policy change. Based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model, this study finds that Korea’s local mobile content firms are strongly inclined toward diverging away from Google’s in-app purchase policy, but only if there will be sufficient governmental protection in tandem with cooperation from other industry firms. This study is one of the first to examine the responses to this policy change; thus, this research presents an array of meaningful implications to a timely and sensitive issue.