Koushik Dutta has once again run afoul of Google. This time he’s alleged to have erred on some Play Store policies for his Helium and ROM Manager apps, according to Google. The search giant has removed his apps from circulation, citing “Violation of the paid and free provision of the Content Policy and section 3.3 of the Developer Distribution Agreement.”


Helium, a data backup app, was first noted as having a payment flow option issue. When Dutta noted he’d had other apps with the same setup, he might have put his foot in his mouth. Typically, Google gives Developers six weeks to fix a problem. In this scenario, they went straight for the jugular, tearing down ROM Manager immediately. The image, which you can see above, highlights at least some of the communication between Dutta and Google.

Koushik Dutta is the very same Developer who had issues with his AirCast app being disabled by Google. He felt that act was purposeful, and that the update had made changes with the implicit intent of disabling his app. While that can’t be made certain, this one seems pretty cut and dry. In this instance, it seems Dutta wasn’t given a fair shake by Google. At all. According to Dutta, he still had two weeks to rectify the issue. Google didn’t catch that, obviously.

If he indeed had two weeks to fulfill his obligation, then Google acted incorrectly. We won’t call it malice, but it doesn’t reflect well. We’re also sure they’re well aware that Dutta has no issue with making his feelings known publicly, as he did with his AirCast app. The Developer hasn’t made his plans moving forward known just yet, but we’re sure there is a common ground he’ll be able to find with Google.

Source: Koushik Dutta’s Google+ page

6 COMMENTS

  1. Android – Andy Rubin = iOS. Well, maybe not quite yet, but we’re well on our way. Please, Andy, leave the toy robots alone, and go lead another mobile OS. We’re gonna need one in another year or two.

  2. Why don’t they just hire him and be done with it? Maybe bake his features into Droid where they belong (under the development settings section)

  3. He had 3 freakin’ years to comply with policy and now he is bitching like crazy because Google took his apps down. Deal with it you arrogant little sob! Koush is a great developer, I’ve purchased a number of his apps, but sometimes I think he believes he is gods gift.

    Sure, Google probably shouldn’t have taken his apps down without some warning but for someone in his position, you can’t say he wasn’t aware of the policy. He was just grabbing as much money as he could.

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