Judge Temporarily Halts Google Play Monopoly Changes Set for November

A judge has temporarily paused the November 1 deadline for Google to make several significant changes to its Play Store policies following the ruling in the Epic Games lawsuit. This pause will allow a higher court time to consider Google's request for a longer stay that would remain in place while the case goes through the appeals process, which could take years. Among the changes Google would have been required to implement by November 1 were allowing alternative in-app payment methods and letting developers link to downloads of their apps outside the Play Store. The temporary pause also affects other mandates such as Google being required to distribute third-party app stores and give them access to its Play Store catalog, a requirement that had an eight-month time frame.