US Judge Orders Google to Open Android to Rival App Stores
AFP/APP
San Francisco: A US judge has ordered Google to permit rival app stores on its Android smartphone operating system, marking a significant legal setback for the tech giant.
This order follows Google’s defeat in an antitrust case initiated by Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, in which a California jury determined that Google exercises illegal monopoly power through its Android Play Store.
The San Francisco jury concluded in December that Google employed various unlawful strategies to maintain its app store monopoly on Android devices.
The injunction, which Google plans to appeal, follows an August ruling where a different federal judge found that Google’s search engine also constitutes an illegal monopoly. Google is also facing another antitrust lawsuit in Virginia regarding its dominance in online advertising.
Under the current order, Google will be prohibited from engaging in several anticompetitive practices for the next three years.
These restrictions include preventing revenue sharing with potential competitors and mandating that developers launch apps exclusively on the Play Store. A three-person Technical Committee has been established to oversee the implementation of these changes and resolve any arising disputes.
This ruling poses a substantial challenge to Google’s dominance in the Android app ecosystem, with potential implications for the mobile app landscape in the coming years.
Google expressed its intention to appeal the injunction, stating, “We look forward to continuing to make our case on appeal, and we will keep advocating for what is best for developers, device manufacturers, and the billions of Android users around the world,” according to Lee-Anne Mulholland, the company’s regulatory affairs vice president.
With Android devices commanding approximately 70 percent of the global smartphone market, manufacturers can install the Android app for free, provided the Play Store remains on the homepage, and other Google services are pre-installed.
The jury found that Google illegally ensured the Google Play app store was the sole avenue for processing payments for third-party apps, like Fortnite, which often pay up to 30 percent in commissions.
While Epic Games faced setbacks in a similar case against Apple, where a different judge ruled predominantly in favor of the iPhone maker, both tech giants maintain that their app store commissions are industry standards that provide necessary services such as transaction security and malware protection.
The trial revealed that Google generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue through its app store, employing a strategy that pays smartphone manufacturers a cut of its revenue in exchange for maintaining the Play Store as the exclusive access point for apps.
