Google to Make Changes to Android in India

Google to Make Changes to Android in India
Photo: unsplash.com 26.01.2023 638

Google will comply with the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) ruling after the Supreme Court refused to grant the company's request to block it.

IT-giant will let Android users in India use third-party billing options starting next month and will also give users the ability to choose their default search engine whenever they start setting up a new Android phone or tablet.

“We take our commitment to comply with local laws and regulations in India seriously. The Competition Commission of India (CCI)’s recent directives for Android and Play require us to make significant changes for India, and today we’ve informed the CCI of how we will be complying with their directives,” 

Google writes. 

Google previously tried to block the CCI decision and argued in a filing obtained by Reuters that “tremendous advancement in growth of an ecosystem of device manufacturers, app developers and users is at the verge of coming to a halt because of the remedial directions.”

In October of last year, CCI hit Google with a $162 million fine for “abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android Mobile device ecosystem.” The CCI also forced Google to allow users to pick their own search engine as well as let users uninstall the Google-owned apps that come preinstalled on Android devices, such as Google Maps.

As Google faces global scrutiny over its stringent in-app payment policies, the company brought its User Choice Billing pilot — a program that lets non-gaming app developers use third-party payment options — to India last year, in addition to the European Economic Area (EEA), Japan, Indonesia, and Australia.

Google also brought User Choice Billing to the US in November, where it’s dealing with some legal issues. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google that accuses the company of having a monopoly on the digital advertising market. Google responded by stating the suit “ignores the enormous competition in the online advertising industry.”

Source:  The Verge

digital markets  India 

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