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When Google messes User Experience

ByShrutin Shetty
Pic: Eberhard Grossgasteiger

The bout between the tech giants Amazon and Google regarding Google’s payments related policy, that has been going on since 2022, has finally hit India recently, and the two giants have taken a big dump on user experience here.

Users in India might no longer be able to buy digital goods on the Android Amazon app, nor eBooks on the Kindle app.

Now, you would have to go to the Amazon site on your web browser to buy a digital product or an ebook, unlike the convenience of buying it directly on the Kindle. You would still be able to use your Kindle reader/ app to access old and new eBooks.

And this is just one giant having the muscle to say no to policies of another giant. At the same time, smaller companies don’t have the option but to comply with Google’s (and similarly iOS app store’s) prohibitive terms.

If Google and Apple’s store policies get greedier over time, as we have seen with the likes of Uber in the real world, would be interesting to see if and how app makers would switch to trying to get users to download their apps directly from their own websites. Or could it someday point to the need for a new open source operating system popping up if Google tries to further restrict apps at an OS level?

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