Kakao CEO Cho Soo-yong's Candid Remarks: "Google In-App Payment Impact Is Significant"

Co-CEO Jo Soo-yong of Kakao

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Cho Soo-yong, co-CEO of Kakao, spoke out directly regarding Google's policy to apply in-app payments and a 30% commission fee to all apps.

At a press conference held on the first day of Kakao's annual developer event 'if kakao 2020' on the 18th, when asked about Google's in-app payment policy, Co-CEO Cho said, "I think we need to address this issue once," adding, "Forcing a specific payment method is a significant matter that affects many creators and content distributors." He continued, "I believe there should be a variety of other payment methods as well." It is unusual for Co-CEO Cho to express his opinion on a specific policy. Google has maintained that only about 100 companies are affected by the in-app payment policy, so the impact is not significant.

Kakao is one of the companies affected by Google's expansion of the in-app payment policy. Moreover, Kakao announced plans for a content subscription platform on the same day. Kakao plans to introduce a platform where users can subscribe to content such as news, videos, and music. It is highly likely that a paid model will be incorporated into the content subscription. However, when asked whether the policy of expanding Google's in-app payment was considered, Co-CEO Cho said, "The subscription model has been in development for quite some time, so it was not created with in-app payments in mind."

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Korea Internet Corporations Association (KICA) issued a statement urging the National Assembly to pass the amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act that would prevent Google's forced in-app payment policy. KICA is an organization that includes companies such as Naver and Kakao. KICA pointed out, "The National Assembly has shown the possibility of preventing app market operators' abuses in advance by proposing several amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act even before the recent audit," but added, "However, the spark of that possibility is fading over time for reasons that are difficult to understand." KICA claimed, "It is estimated that the unilateral policy change by Google will cause a short-term revenue decrease of more than 3 trillion won in the domestic mobile content industry."