[단독] SKT and Naver, who have changed their minds, oppose’Google’s anti-pollution law’… “Try to avoid the one store”

Input 2021.03.12 10:44 | Revision 2021.03.12 11:06

SKT and One Store visit the National Assembly to be concerned about the’App Market Anti-Corruption Act’
Controversy over in-app payments started by hitting Google and Apple
If the bill passes, it becomes a boomerang, and even one store sales decrease.

It was confirmed that One Store, a domestic application (app) market, expressed its intention to oppose the amendment to the telecommunications business law called the’Google Goblin Prevention Act’ and the’Google In-App Payment Compulsory Prevention Act’. The controversy over in-app payments, which started with Google and Apple’slaps’, becomes a boomerang and fears that it will return to regulations that condemn them. The industry responded that it was ironic over the situation where One Store, which had been in coordination with overseas platform regulations, suddenly changed its attitude and made a voice with Google and Apple. In addition, interpretation is raised as to whether the inner minds of SK Telecom and Naver, which are major shareholders, have been revealed over the movement of One Store.

Summarizing the coverage of Chosun Biz on the 12th, one store official recently met with members of the National Assembly Science Technology Information Broadcasting and Communication Committee and made an opinion to “reconsider the app market regulation.” If the bill is passed as it is, it is judged that there will be significant disadvantages not only for Google and Apple but also for One Store. One Store’s position is said to have embarrassed several lawmakers. Until now, the bill was initiated and discussed with the intention of being for domestic apps and domestic platforms, but it was not at all expected that it would be a policy to kill even domestic companies. An industry official said, “I heard that I was surprised to hear the story and told me not to go anywhere and talk to me.”

In addition, not only One Store, but also domestic app providers have recently visited the National Assembly one after another to convey their concerns, adding to the concerns of lawmakers. It is related to the’equal access right’, which is another major content related to the amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act. This implies that operators of a certain size or larger must supply apps to domestic app markets such as Google and Apple as well as One Store. “I was worried that it would be burdensome to have a lot of administrative costs when app providers use multiple app markets,” said a member of the National Defense Defense Agency. I appealed,” he said.

The Google In-App Payment Force Prevention Act contains the content that the two major application (app) markets, the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, should not enforce their own (in-app) payment system. This is due to the backlash that app providers such as Naver Webtoon, Melon, and Kakao Page use Google and Apple’s internal payment system to pay 30% of the price as a fee.

One Store has attracted the most attention as an alternative app market amid the controversy that has been drawn since last year. One Store, which has SK Telecom (50.1%) and Naver (26.3%) as major shareholders, received only 5-20% of commissions, and enjoyed the promotion effect of being a’good’ domestic app market. In August of last year, it increased its market share in the domestic app market to 18.4%, recording a record high (based on mobile index). Moreover, the Internet Enterprise Association, which is the chairman of Naver, the largest shareholder, took the lead in platform regulation, saying, “It is the domestic domination of foreign companies” amid the controversy over in-app payments.

The industry believes that the law against compulsory in-app payments has been opposed to the law because it is calculated that it will have a significant blow to One Store. This is because one store sales will drop sharply if domestic apps do not use in-app payments and bypass in-app payments with their own payment system due to the passage of the law. In-app payment operation is a business that incurs considerable expenses, such as secondary fees to credit card companies and telecommunication companies according to each payment method, as well as expenses for maintenance and management such as security. One Store is appealing competitiveness by setting a relatively lower rate than Google and Apple, but it is evaluated that its profitability is not so good.

Among these, One Store is also planning to list this year. It is speeding up the IPO by selecting a listing host company in September of last year. If in-app payment, a major source of revenue, is hit, the opportunity to show the company’s growth potential to investors is also lost.

While denying the fact that One Store visited the National Assembly, he said, “There is no reason to object to the purpose of the bill, but since the uncertainty that the bill will bring is unpredictable, it is our position that it would be better to revitalize competition rather than regulation.”

An industry insider said, “It seems like we’ve made controversy and regulated it, and we’ve only made use of anger.”