Still, it’s a win for less technical users -- who ostensibly have never installed an alternative store -- considering they’ll be less likely to recognize scammy apps like the flashlights of old.
I think there is another point that it eases support contact for users to developers. But I disagree with that, I think. The developers should be able to decide for themselves how to provide that information, as well as what to provide.
But then that has issues considering developers who might choose “send a letter to this PO box”, so there still has to be some verification that it’s not “too” inconvenient to the end user. From that angle, Google might prefer to dictate these terms.
I see that Google likes to be heavy-handed (and is being so), which I don’t like to see, but this might actually be a positive for someone other than Google (or their business partners), which I do like to see.
That being said, I’m not sure if the positive outweighs the negative. I also suspect Google’s intentions (to say the least) and consider that they really like the extra phone numbers they’ll get people to cough up. It’s certainly interesting to think about.
It’s publishing real world addresses or phone numbers that really worries me. Either you have to give up your privacy and possibly be in danger or pay extra to avoid it by buying a phone number or a PO Box somewhere.