Google will be making serious changes to the way Android operates | Digit

Google has announced that it will let device makers in India license their own apps for pre-installation and will also let users pick their own default search engines. This comes after the Supreme Court announced antitrust directives last week. The court also rejected Google’s challenge against Competition Commission of India ruling stating that the tech giant abused its market position. Google is now changing the way the Android system operates. 

“Implementation of these changes across the ecosystem will be a complex process and will require significant work at our end and, in many cases, significant efforts from partners, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and developers,” Google announced in a blog post.

What is the Competition Commission of India ruling?

Counterpoint Research states that 97% of 600 million smartphones in India run on Android. The same research states that 75% of the 550 million smartphones in Europe run on Android. The CCI ruling states that Google exploits its dominant position in the market. It also asked the company to remove restrictions placed on device makers related to the pre-installation of apps. 

It also fined Google $161 million (which is around Rs. 1,300 crores).

Google tried to block these directions by warning the Supreme Court that its Android ecosystem would be hampered due to this. The company explained that it would have to change its arrangements with over 1,100 device manufacturers and app developers. 

What’s happening now?

The Supreme Court dismissed Google’s plea and asked the company to pay the fine by March 31st. 

“We continue to respectfully appeal certain aspects of the CCI’s decisions,” Google said. The tech giant is working on changing its Android system operations.

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