South Korea's media and communications regulator (KMCC) fined Google 42.9 billion won and Apple 20.81 billion won on 28 October, 63.7 billion won in total, for restricting developers' choice of payment methods and delaying app reviews. It ordered both companies to allow links to external payments and reasonable fees for third-party payments. Google must revise its payment experience guidelines and Apple must drop its separate-app requirement. Compliance plans are due within one month and the changes within three.

What it means: South Korea was the first country to pass a law, in 2021, requiring app stores to allow alternative payments, and the new decision shows the regulator believes Google and Apple did not apply it in substance, mainly through high fees that made the alternatives uneconomic. The same pattern exists in the EU, where the Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires gatekeepers to let developers steer users to cheaper offers outside the store, and the Commission has already fined Apple and Google over similar restrictions. Regulators converging across continents increases the pressure for a global change in the rules. For Greek companies that sell subscriptions or digital content through mobile apps, these developments gradually open the way to payments through their own systems at lower cost. Before making any change, it is worth checking each store's current terms for the EU, which differ from other markets and change often, as well as the fees that still apply to external links.

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