Google just booted 'Fortnite' from the Play Store, hours after Apple banned it from the iPhone and iPad App Store (GOOGL)

* After being booted from the Apple App Store, Fortnite has now been removed from the Google Play Store, too. * The move comes after Epic rolled out an update letting users pay it directly for in-app purchases, skirting around Apple and Google's existing payment systems. * Those systems give Apple and Google a 30% cut of the profits from in-app purchases — a practice that Epic has long railed against. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Having just been booted from the Apple App Store, Epic's Fortnite has now been removed from the Google Play Store, too. It comes as no surprise. Everything kicked off after Epic rolled out an update on Thursday morning that lets users pay Epic directly for in-app purchases, instead of going though Apple and Google's existing purchase systems. Both companies require apps on their respective stores to pay a 30% cut of most transactions. Apple was first to fight back, kicking Fornite off the iPhone and iPad App Store — leading Epic to respond by filing a lawsuit against the company and screening in the hit game a parody of Apple's 1984 commercial that took shots at the company's present-day App Store policies. Now Google is following suit and has kicked the game from its Play Store, though at the time of writing there has been no immediate sign of retaliation from Epic. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider: "The open Android ecosystem lets developers distribute apps through multiple app stores. For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for users. While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it available on Play because it violates our policies. However, we welcome the opportunity to continue our discussions with Epic and bring Fortnite back to Google Play." Fortnite is also available to download on Android directly via Epic's own website. In fact, for a time, this was how Android users had to access the game until April, when Epic finally decided to play by Google's rules and brought the game back to the Play Store. Right now, all Android users can still download the game directly from Epic, while Samsung smartphone owners can get it from the Galaxy Store. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The rise and fall of Donald Trump's $365 million airline
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PayPal parts with top advertising executive after shifting its marketing strategy during the pandemic

* PayPal's chief creative officer Steve Simpson, its top advertising executive, left the company after about a year. * The move came after PayPal shifted its marketing strategy during the coronavirus pandemic, placing less emphasis on the brand and more on catering to small businesses, said a source with direct knowledge of the marketing operation. * Simpson's departure followed that of CMO and former Apple executive Allison Johnson in May. Both "decided to leave PayPal" as the company streamlines its global marketing functions, according to a PayPal spokeswoman. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. PayPal's highest-ranking ad executive Steve Simpson left earlier this month after just over a year as part of a restructuring of its global marketing business. Simpson, who was chief creative officer, was hired to make high-minded ad campaigns to help PayPal stand out from competitors like Square, Stripe, and Apple Pay. But this strategy chan

Neighbor, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup that wants to be the Airbnb of self-storage, has started partnering with landlords to turn empty offices into spaces for people's stuff

* The Airbnb of self-storage, Neighbor, has seen a surge in demand as a result of the pandemic, according to CEO and cofounder Joseph Woodbury. * The company announced a partnership Tuesday with landlord and operator Bridgeton Holdings to fill vacant office space with self-storage in San Francisco and eventually across the country. * This comes as the office market has taken a big hit from the coronavirus pandemic. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The coronavirus has accelerated the trend of using under-utilized real estate for other purposes, like turning retail storefronts and parking lots into distribution hubs for e-commerce fulfillment and redeveloping malls into communities by adding residential units. One area of commercial real estate that's in high demand is self-storage. The average spend on construction of new facilities per year jumped to $5 billion in 2018 from $1 billion in 2015. With the coronavirus prompting moves, a likely trigger f

The machines USPS is removing from distribution centers can sort more than 36,000 pieces of mail per hour. Here's how they work.

* The United States Postal Service has been deactivating mail-sorting machines around the US ahead of the surge expected from mail-in voting this fall, reports say. * Each machine can sort up to 36,000 pieces of mail per hour. * The machines sort letters, postcards, and other mail by bar code. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Mail-sorting machines used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) have been dismantled and removed from distribution centers around the country, according to postal workers. They told Motherboard that at least 19 machines were removed without explanation. An internal USPS letter from June included a plan to remove hundreds of more mail-sorting machines this year. Postal Workers Union members and some Democratic politicians have expressed concerns about changes to the USPS under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major Trump donor who started his position this summer. President Trump has attacked the USPS and claimed that voting

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