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A series of changes made to Google Play policies have affected giant ebook sellers Barnes & Noble and Audible. According to The Verge, the users on Android can’t buy ebooks from Barnes & Noble and Audible anymore due to their non-compliance with Google Play new policies.
Dates back to September 2020, Google announced its new policies for developers on the Play Store. All apps released on the Google app store must use Google Play’s billing systems based on those new rules. Of course, this wasn’t a pleasing decision to many developers. They criticized Google for forcing them to use the company’s exclusive billing system. Apple also made a similar decision on its App Store.
The deadline for developers to comply with new rules was September 30, 2021. However, Google decided to extend the deadline for another six months, March 31, 2022.
According to the latest announcement on Barnes & Noble website, “As of April 4, 2022, with the release of NOOK Software Version 6.1, the ability to purchase has been removed from the Barnes & Noble NOOK App for Android and the NOOK HD 10″ Designed with Lenovo.”
Google is forcing developers to use its billing system
Google has previously announced to all developers they need to use the company’s billing method or remove the alternative in-app billing system on their apps in order to comply with the Payments policy. Removing the in-app purchase from Barnes & Noble is the result of this.
However, Barnes & Noble is not the only ebook seller affected by Google’s new rules. Amazon’s Audible also removed in-app purchases to be able to keep its app in the Play Store.
Audible has released a statement on its website, saying, “starting with the Audible for Google Play Android app version 3.23, purchasing titles with a debit or credit card in the app is no longer supported, whether you’re a member or not. You can always purchase titles at Audible.com.”
Also, all new Audible memberships billings will proceed through the Google Play billing system.