8 days ago Google and Epic announced a proposed settlement and modification of a permanent injunction that Epic won, I believe this proposed settlement would likely have prohibited Google's plan to forbid installation of third party apps (excluding app stores from the definition of apps) unless those app developers had paid google a registration fee. The proposed settlement is here [1], the relevant portion is

> 13. For a period beginning on the Effective Date through June 30, 2032, Google will [...] and will continue to permit the direct downloading of apps from developer websites and third-party stores without any fees being imposed for those downloads unless the downloads originate from linkouts from apps installed/updated by Google Play (excluding web browsers).

6 days ago the court expressed skepticism as to the proposal and announced that they'd have a hearing, with testimony from expert witnesses, as to whether it would prevent the market harms that the original injunction was trying to cure [2].

Today Google announces this, effectively confirming that they're backing down from their requirement that third party app developers pay google prior to distributing their apps.

Nothing (yet) is explicitly tying these together, but I can't help but suspect that this move is in large part being made to convince the court that they're actually intending to honour this portion of the proposed injunction even though Epic would have little reason to enforce it.

[1] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.36...

[2] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.36...

Did we read the same thing? I think Google here said there would be a $25 fee per developer (for those who can't fit in their limited distribution category). I suppose it's much better than a fee per paid install but it's not nothing.