After Google's Play Store policy changes, Amazon removes IAPs from its Kindle and Music apps for Android, and direct audiobook purchases from Audible on Android
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the bill coming due on Google's 2020 mandate that all Play Store apps use its billing system after Netflix, Spotify, and others had long bypassed the 30% cut. Amazon's Kindle, Music, and Audible apps were among the biggest holdouts, and rather than pay the fee, Amazon is stripping checkout out of the apps entirely.
It mirrors moves across both ecosystems: Apple pulled buying from the Apple TV app on Android TV and Google TV earlier in 2022 under the same pressure, and Spotify soon made the matching call on iOS. The pattern also cuts the other way — once the economics allowed, Amazon quietly restored IAPs to Prime Video for Android in 2023.
First-order effects
- Android users of Kindle, Amazon Music, and Audible can no longer buy e-books, music, or audiobooks inside the apps; purchases move to Amazon's website, where no store cut applies.
Second-order effects
- Rivals face the same fork: Spotify's removal of audiobook purchasing from its iOS app shows media companies on both platforms choosing web checkout over the 30% toll, normalizing app-store-free buying for subscriptions and media alike.
Third-order effects
- If enforcement holds, digital media commerce structurally migrates off-device to the web, weakening app stores' grip on content transactions — while carve-outs like Google Play Books using Apple's reader-app exception hint at negotiated exemptions becoming the pressure valve.
The trend: App-store billing mandates are pushing major media companies to strip checkout from their mobile apps and rebuild purchase flows on the open web.