After Google confirmed yesterday that it gave Spotify a sweetheart deal on Android app store fees, we were curious if dating company Bumble or any of the other 80 or so developers that have joined Google’s “User Choice Billing” program were similarly given an alternative arrangement or other sweeteners. Google spokesperson Dan Jackson would not answer our question.
Bumble’s Q3 2023 earnings call suggests that, far from a Spotify-esque deal, it’s actually now paying higher app store fees: > As a percentage of revenue, cost of revenue was 29 percent versus 27 percent in the year-ago period, mostly due to higher App Store fees as a result of compliance with the Google Play mandate. And yet: “I would say at the moment, we are quite positive on the impact on users,” Bumble’s president said about User Choice Billing on an earlier Q1 2023 earnings call.