Google seems to place significant importance on having its app marketplace, the Play Store, appear on the home screens of Samsung’s smartphones and tablets. According to Bloomberg, Google paid Samsung a total of 8 billion US dollars over a period of four years for this privilege.
The source of this information is Google manager James Kolotouros, who oversees partnerships and testified in the court case between Google and Epic. In recent weeks, this legal dispute has already revealed interesting insights into how Google handled certain partners.
The agreement, known as Project Banyan, not only involves the prominent placement of the Play Store but also includes Google Search and Google Assistant. Kolotouros suggests that similar arrangements have been made with other manufacturers, but Samsung’s market position makes it particularly significant.
Samsung devices crucial for Play Store revenue
According to Kolotouros, more than half of the revenue in the Play Store comes from Samsung devices. Project Banyan was initiated in 2019. Initially, Google offered Samsung 200 million US dollars to integrate Samsung’s own app marketplace, the Galaxy Store, into the Play Store. Additionally, Samsung was expected to use Google’s payment mechanism.
However, the proposal was declined – to this day, Samsung continues to install its own Galaxy Store on its smartphones. To ensure the continued visibility of the Play Store, Google decided to sign three contracts totaling 8 billion US dollars. The Play Store now appears alongside the Galaxy Store – an exclusive placement would have cost Google an additional 1 billion US dollars.
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