Expensive Google Maps
Google is drawing strong opposition from software and application developers by charging excessive fees for the use of Google Maps. It is said that the company is engaged in sales activities without disclosing the international billing criteria to Korean firms.
According to industry sources, local developers using Google Maps for commercial purposes are required to pay 20 million won (US$18,800) a day, on an Application Programming Interface (API) basis, for 25,000 to one million page views. When the number of page views exceeds one million, an additional contract has to be made for another one million views regardless of the actual amount of use.
This is imposing a great burden on small firms with limited financial resources. Besides, the one million page views is a quantity that can be consumed within 24 hours, which means many small developers are paying over 20 million won for Google Maps each day. On a yearly basis, the payment amounts to tens of billions of won.
Nevertheless, Google and Google Korea have avoided its legal responsibility for four years, since the start of charging for the service, by means of a third-party reseller. Some local developers have called upon Google Korea to disclose their billing standards, but Google Korea has continued to turn down the request, mentioning that the Maps is sold not by itself but a reseller.
“It is totally unacceptable that a company does not reveal the price while selling a product,” said a local application program developer, adding, “Different billing criteria applied in and out Korea constitutes an act of discrimination against Korean companies.”