Amaya Toman Google seems to have decided to accommodate developers who put their apps on its Google Play Store. From the summer, under certain conditions, their commissions, which until now amounted to 30% of earnings, will be halved - Apple already decided to take a similar step last year. China, in turn, has decided to suspend the use of the communication app Signal. This popular tool, which gained popularity for its encryption system among other things, was blocked in China earlier this week. In our roundup of the day today, we will also talk about Sony's PlayStation game consoles, this time in connection with the termination of some services.
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Vratislav Holub End of PlayStation Services
This month, Sony confirmed the removal of two functions for its PlayStation 4 gaming consoles. The company confirmed on its website that the PlayStation Communities service will no longer be available for PlayStation 4 owners from April. In a related statement, Sony thanked users for using the feature. The PlayStation Communities feature allowed players to play games together, form groups, share screenshots, and chat about topics that interested them. Since the PlayStation Communities feature is not available on the PlayStation 5, it looks like Sony is doing away with it for good - and the company hasn't even mentioned that it plans to replace it with another similar service. In early March, Sony also announced that users will no longer be able to purchase or rent movies on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 4 Pro consoles. This restriction should come into effect on August 31 of this year.
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The end of Signal in China
The encrypted communications app Signal stopped working in China earlier this week. It was one of the last "western" applications of this kind that could be used legally in China. The app, which was often used by journalists and other similar professions for its high level of security and privacy protection, stopped working in mainland China early Tuesday morning. Signal's website was completely blocked in China one day in advance. However, the Signal app is still available for download on the Chinese App Store – meaning that the Chinese government has not yet ordered Apple to remove it from the App Store. Currently, Signal can only be used in China when connected to a VPN. Signal has been downloaded by more than half a million users in China, putting the app alongside popular tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which were blocked in China in previous years.
Google caters to developers
One of the things that some developers complain about in the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store is the disproportionately high commissions they have to take from the profits from their apps to the aforementioned companies. Some time ago, Apple reduced the aforementioned commissions for developers whose annual income from applications in the App Store does not exceed one million dollars. Now Google has also joined in, cutting developer commissions to 15% on the first million dollars that app creators earn on the Google Play Store. The change will be put into practice at the beginning of this July and, according to Google, it will apply to all developers, regardless of the size and earnings of their company. After developers earn more than the mentioned one million dollars annually, the commission amount jumps back to the standard 30%.
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