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India fines Google $162M for anti-competitive practices on Android

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Re: India fines Google $162M for anti-competitive practices on Android

#3

Post by webmobdev » 

   The Competition Commission of India, which began investigating Google several years ago after complaints from local firms, said in a press release that Google requiring device manufacturers to pre-install its entire Google Mobile Suite and mandating prominent placement of those apps “amounts to imposition of unfair condition on the device manufacturers” and thus was in “contravention of the provisions of Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act.”

   It also ordered the Android-maker to not offer any incentives to smartphone makers to exclusively carry its search services.

   ... The antitrust watchdog said in its statement today that device manufacturers should not be forced to install Google’s bouquet of apps and the search giant should not deny access to its Play Services APIs and monetary and other incentives to vendors.
Good. Ensuring monopolies don't crush competition, and creating a level playing business field is what prevents capitalism from becoming dysfunctional.

Re: India fines Google $162M for anti-competitive practices on Android

#4

Post by tatpacc »

Here is the link to original order [https://www.cci.gov.in/antitrust/press-release/details/261/0]

some experts

13. Accordingly, in terms of the provisions of Section 27 of the Act, the Commission has imposed monetary penalty as well as issued cease and desist order against Google from indulging in anti-competitive practices that have been found to be in contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act. Some of the measures that were indicated by the Commission are as follows:

i. OEMs shall not be restrained from (a) choosing from amongst Google’s proprietary applications to be pre-installed and should not be forced to pre-install a bouquet of applications, and (b) deciding the placement of pre-installed apps, on their smart devices.

ii. Licensing of Play Store (including Google Play Services) to OEMs shall not be linked with the requirement of pre-installing Google search services, Chrome browser, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail or any other application of Google.

iii. Google shall not deny access to its Play Services APIs to disadvantage OEMs, app developers and its existing or potential competitors. This would ensure interoperability of apps between Android OS which complies with compatibility requirements of Google and Android Forks. By virtue of this remedy, the app developers would be able to port their apps easily onto Android forks.

iv. Google shall not offer any monetary/ other incentives to, or enter into any arrangement with, OEMs for ensuring exclusivity for its search services.

v. Google shall not impose anti-fragmentation obligations on OEMs, as presently being done under AFA/ ACC. For devices that do not have Google’s proprietary applications pre-installed, OEMs should be permitted to manufacture/ develop Android forks based smart devices for themselves.

vi. Google shall not incentivise or otherwise obligate OEMs for not selling smart devices based on Android forks.

vii. Google shall not restrict un-installing of its pre-installed apps by the users.

viii. Google shall allow the users, during the initial device setup, to choose their default search engine for all search entry points. Users should have the flexibility to easily set as well as easily change the default settings in their devices, in minimum steps possible.

ix. Google shall allow the developers of app stores to distribute their app stores through Play Store.

Re: India fines Google $162M for anti-competitive practices on Android

#7

Post by atdrummond »

colpabar wrote: post #5

I feel like I see headlines like this all the time. Some country/government fines some tech giant some large amount of money. But I always wonder, do these fines ever get paid?

Yes. But they’re a rounding error for FAANG firms.

Re: India fines Google $162M for anti-competitive practices on Android

#8

Post by aatharuv »

webmobdev wrote: post #3

The Competition Commission of India, which began investigating Google several years ago after complaints from local firms, said in a press release that Google requiring device manufacturers to pre-install its entire Google Mobile Suite and mandating prominent placement of those apps “amounts to imposition of unfair condition on the device manufacturers” and thus was in “contravention of the provisions of Section 4(2)…

India really hates big _foreign_ monopolies. The last really big foreign monopoly to get a place in India, the British East India Company ended up taking over the country.

Re: India fines Google $162M for anti-competitive practices on Android

#10

Post by codegeek »

cudgy wrote: post #9

Anyone know how much net profit Google makes in one year from the India market in USD? One article states Rs 586.2 crore, but how to convert to USD? https://m.timesofindia.com/business/india-business/google-in...

That's about $71M USD. (1 Crore = 10,000,000 units). Currently, 1 USD = 83 INR

So, 586 crores INR = 5860000000 INR = $71,000,000 USD

EDIT: It seems like some people are saying the correct number is not 586 crores but 5k crores which is 10 times more.

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