Last year, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Google $113 million for restricting third-party payment services and launched an investigation into the company’s other anti-competitive practices. Google’s appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected — and the company did change its agreements with smartphone manufacturers and loosen some rules for users.
Starting next month, Android users in India will be able to use third-party services to buy apps and games, and will be able to choose a different default search engine. As for smartphone manufacturers, they will be allowed to license individual Google applications for pre-installation on devices supplied by them (previously, manufacturers were forced to license the entire suite of Google applications at once).
The company plans to appeal the CCI decision again, but is currently working on implementing the following changes:
- OEMs will be able to license individual Google apps for pre-installation on their devices.
- Android users will be able to customize their devices according to their preferences, including setting an alternative default search engine on the selection screen.
- Updated Android compatibility requirements to allow partners to create incompatible or branched variants.
- Pay-as-you-go will be available for all apps and games starting next month. Developers may offer users to choose an alternative payment system alongside the Google Play payment system when purchasing digital content in the app.
- Android already supports installing apps from third-party sources, and Google recently added auto-update capabilities for third-party apps and app stores.
India is a major market for Google, where the tech giant has over half a billion users. According to research firm Counterpoint, more than 97% of all smartphones in India run Google’s Android mobile operating system. The company has invested billions in the country over the past decade and is in the process of investing another $10 billion
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A few days ago, under pressure from the CCI, Google also allowed third-party app stores to be listed on the Google Play Store.
In the Google Play Store, work with applications for different types of devices has been improved and remote installation of applications has appeared
Source: gsmarena
