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For the bad news this weekend, we have Google losing an appeal in Taiwan. You may remember last June, when Google had some major issues with the Taiwanese government. Due to a local law, companies are forced to give customers a 7-day refund window for products and services. When asked to extend their 15-minute app refund policy to the said amount of days, Google did not hesitate to say “Oh no, you didn’t!”
It was interesting that Apple and Microsoft (usually more strict about this) decided to comply with Taiwan’s request. But Google never backed down from its 15-minute policy.
Since then, Google has not been selling any apps to Taiwanese Android users, leaving them with access only to free applications. It seems like our fellow Taiwanese friends will be stuck in this position for a while longer. And was forced to pay a fine, which did not add up to much money (of course, relatively).
After paying NT $1 million (about 34,000 US dollars), the appeals began. As usual with courts, these matters take a long time, and it has finally concluded today, with Google’s loss.
We do not yet know how Google will respond to this. We certainly believe that the 15-minute window is a bit too short. Many applications and games take longer just to be installed. This leaves many Android users with a bitter taste. Many would believe that a 7-day refund window is a bit too extended, though.
We will have to wait to see what Google has to say about this, but for now, give us your opinions! Are you on Taiwan’s side? What do you think would be an ideal refund-window for Android Market applications?
[Source: Times of India Via: The Verge]
12 hours sounds about right.
Ideally, I’d like to see a 1-day refund window, but even an hour or two would be enough.
Id be happy with an hour refund window. I can usually tell within 15 minutes weather the app is worth it or not. Games with large downloads should have an hour or two refund just because it can take a good 30 mins to download a 600 MB file sometimes to my phone, especially when they have a slow server.
I was thinking 1 hour for apps with no additional data and 3 for those that require a large secondary download. That should cover most people’s d/l time plus a chance to check out the app/game while keeping devs happy.
I think the ol’ 24 hours worked fine, but I imagine an hour would be long enough to judge an app.
Just do it Google this only going to lead to piracy 15 minutes definitely is too short of time…. that 15 minute window only cheats legit customers… It also cheats developers because who wants to pay $7 for an app they can’t test ?
Its their country, they make their own laws who are we to tell them what to do.
Why not let developers decide on an app by app basis whether or not to make their app available in Taiwan with a 7 day window?
And for that matter why not let developers choose their own refund window in the US and other countries?