Reuters reported that Google has warned that the antitrust ruling will cause Android’s growth in India to stagnate. In 2019, the Indian antitrust agency reportedly began an investigation into Google’s use of Android.
According to a recent report, Google’s Android ecosystem is on the verge of halting in India as a result of an antitrust decision that requires the corporation to alter the way it markets the platform. This allegation was made in a Supreme Court appeal, which Reuters was able to view.
In October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Alphabet Inc.-owned Google $161 million for abusing its monopoly over the Android operating system, which runs 97% of smartphones in India. The CCI also requested that Google modify the limitations placed on smartphone manufacturers with regard to pre-installing apps.
According to Google, it will be necessary to amend its current agreements with more than 1,100 device makers and thousands of app developers, as well as to propose new licence agreements. Google has previously stated that the CCI ruling will compel it to alter its long-standing business model, but its Indian Supreme Court petition quantifies the impact and describes the adjustments the company will have to make.
Due to the fact that the Indian judgement’s mandated remedies are viewed as being more extensive than the European Commission’s historic 2018 decision for placing unjustified restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices, Google has been concerned about the verdict. The $4.3 billion record fine in the case has indeed been disputed by Google.
The CCI ordered Google to stop preventing Android phone users in India from uninstalling its apps in October; at the moment, pre-installed apps like Google Maps and YouTube cannot be removed from Android phones. In addition, Google was fined Rs. 1337.76 crore by the CCI for anti-competitive Android actions and Rs. 936.44 crore by the CCI for failing to comply with a court order prohibiting third-party payments.
According to Reuters, the company has requested that the Supreme Court stay the CCI’s remedial measures, which take effect on January 19 and are detailed in court filings from January 7 at their request. In the upcoming days, the case will probably be heard.
According to Google’s filing, which is not public, reported 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. Google will be required to make far-reaching changes to the Android mobile platform which has been in place for the last 14-15 years.