India has sent Google a mega fine worth $162 million for using its powerful position to suppress competition.
The news comes from CNET which recently published a report speaking in detail about how the country’s Competition Commission found the search engine giant involved in providing Android apps with an unfair advantage by restrictive terms.
The tech giant is believed to be imposing some really unfair terms on phone manufacturers by forcing them to preinstall Google applications as a part of their agreements outlined. As a result, it just provides other firms with more discouragement in terms of steering clear Android versions that are modified heavily and rely less on the firm’s services.
In addition to that, the Commission went into a lot of detail related to how Google makes the most of its monopoly position to eliminate competitors from web browsers, various app stores, and also those providing video services and search results.
For those who don’t know, Google has forced all of its Android users to download apps like Chrome, YouTube, and others while making sure they’re placed at the forefront of their screens.
There are definitely ways to install different alternatives such as Firefox, but they are not present out of the box. And if you want a little more flexibility, brands can also resort to Android’s open Source Project. But in this way, they’re bound to lose accessibility to the Play Store.
Now, Google is being served with a new order that bans it from making users download an array of its prerequisite applications. Hence, firms would be in the driver’s seat in terms of deciding which apps they require and which they don’t need.
In the same way, the company will not be allowed to bar access of users in the Play Services domain or add any form of anti-fragmentation clauses that put a ban on Android forks. Similarly, it can’t give out unfair incentives and ask for specific search deals either. Any third-party application stores need to be allowed to hand out things via Play Store. Moreover, all users will now have the power to select their own search engines when setting up and can uninstall apps from Google they’re not interested in.
For now, Google isn’t commenting on the report as it is yet to receive the official report from the Indian Commission. Remember, this investigation is set to have started in the year 2019 but there were never any results pointing fingers at Google for abusing its dominant position in the market till September 2021.
In case you’re wondering, yes, the fine isn’t a huge amount for a giant like Google. Remember, just last year, it managed to make earnings worth a staggering $258 billion. But this new order isn’t great for the company’s reputation. It could even cause a great alternation in the many deals it has with leading Android manufacturers too.
At the same time, Google can’t afford to ignore a place like India. It’s a huge market with millions of users.
Read next: Google’s Pixel Team Mocks Apple Via Tweet Sent Out From ‘Twitter For iPhone’
The news comes from CNET which recently published a report speaking in detail about how the country’s Competition Commission found the search engine giant involved in providing Android apps with an unfair advantage by restrictive terms.
The tech giant is believed to be imposing some really unfair terms on phone manufacturers by forcing them to preinstall Google applications as a part of their agreements outlined. As a result, it just provides other firms with more discouragement in terms of steering clear Android versions that are modified heavily and rely less on the firm’s services.
In addition to that, the Commission went into a lot of detail related to how Google makes the most of its monopoly position to eliminate competitors from web browsers, various app stores, and also those providing video services and search results.
For those who don’t know, Google has forced all of its Android users to download apps like Chrome, YouTube, and others while making sure they’re placed at the forefront of their screens.
There are definitely ways to install different alternatives such as Firefox, but they are not present out of the box. And if you want a little more flexibility, brands can also resort to Android’s open Source Project. But in this way, they’re bound to lose accessibility to the Play Store.
Now, Google is being served with a new order that bans it from making users download an array of its prerequisite applications. Hence, firms would be in the driver’s seat in terms of deciding which apps they require and which they don’t need.
In the same way, the company will not be allowed to bar access of users in the Play Services domain or add any form of anti-fragmentation clauses that put a ban on Android forks. Similarly, it can’t give out unfair incentives and ask for specific search deals either. Any third-party application stores need to be allowed to hand out things via Play Store. Moreover, all users will now have the power to select their own search engines when setting up and can uninstall apps from Google they’re not interested in.
For now, Google isn’t commenting on the report as it is yet to receive the official report from the Indian Commission. Remember, this investigation is set to have started in the year 2019 but there were never any results pointing fingers at Google for abusing its dominant position in the market till September 2021.
In case you’re wondering, yes, the fine isn’t a huge amount for a giant like Google. Remember, just last year, it managed to make earnings worth a staggering $258 billion. But this new order isn’t great for the company’s reputation. It could even cause a great alternation in the many deals it has with leading Android manufacturers too.
At the same time, Google can’t afford to ignore a place like India. It’s a huge market with millions of users.
Read next: Google’s Pixel Team Mocks Apple Via Tweet Sent Out From ‘Twitter For iPhone’
