Re: Paid apps

Andy Burns wrote on Wed, 2 Oct 2024 13:19:14 +0100 :

I gather google is moving to enforce install of apps from the play store if you try to sideload them, or load them from alternate stores?

Google is a monopoly on Android, so they "might" do that, but I think all
Google is going to do is make it more steps to load apps from outside the
Google Play Store repository.
Google wants to follow the (brilliant) marketing of Apple that if you only
load from the mothership store, then that's the *only* way to feel safe.
It's a brilliant marketing strategy because plenty of people want to feel
safe, and each time an app is installed from outside the mothership stores,
they lose their commission (which is appreciable at something like 30%
initially).
In summary, I do not predict that Google will *prevent* what you call side
loading (I hate that term as it's just normal loading) - they'll just make
it more steps.
Time will tell...