In the ongoing legal battle between Epic and Google, revelations emerge that Samsung devices constituted "half or more" of Google Play revenue in early 2019, underscoring Samsung's critical role in Google's app store business. Testifying in court, James Kolotouros, Google’s Vice President for Partnerships, disclosed this significant reliance on Samsung, as reported by Bloomberg.
Google Play, the world's largest app store, is a major revenue generator, primarily through in-app purchases and subscriptions. Samsung's substantial contribution to this revenue growth is evident, as highlighted during a 2019 Google internal presentation named Project Banyan, presented at the trial. The project aimed to fortify Google Play's position against competition, notably Samsung's Galaxy App Store, raising questions about maintaining Play as the primary Android distribution platform.
In 2019, Google proposed a $200 million payment to Samsung over four years, suggesting the inclusion of Samsung's Galaxy Store within the Google Play Store, rather than preinstalling it. However, this proposal was abandoned. Subsequently, in 2020, Google entered into three separate deals with Samsung, totaling $8 billion over four years.
Internal documents further revealed that Google revised its request for Google Play to be exclusively featured on a device's home screen, saving nearly $1 billion over four years. The compromise allowed Google Play to share the home screen with space allocated for Samsung to include the Galaxy Store.
