Google Tells Indian Court Antitrust Order Will Hinder Android Ecosystem

Google says an Indian antitrust order will hinder the Android ecosystem.

The company told the Indian Supreme Court that the antitrust order will slow the ecosystem’s growth in the country by requiring Google to modify its contracts, its license agreements and its arrangements with a thousand device manufacturers and thousands of app developers, Reuters reported Tuesday (Jan. 10), citing a Google court filing that is not public.

“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 said in the filing, per the report.

Google did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The antitrust order was delivered to Google by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in October, along with a fine, and asked the company to stop prohibiting Android phone users in India from deleting its apps and to stop linking the licensing of its Play Store with a requirement to pre-install its apps, according to the report.

Google has argued that these requirements help it continue offering Android for free, the report said.

“No other jurisdiction has ever asked for such far-reaching changes based on similar conduct,” Google said in its court filing, per the report.

The CCI has looked at Apple as well, probing whether that firm has violated antitrust law by forcing developers to use its in-app purchase system — an abuse of its dominant position in the apps markets.

Google has faced scrutiny from regulators in Europe, too, where EU antitrust regulators imposed a record $4.33 billion fine against the company for favoring its own Android operating system to edge out the competition.

As PYMNTS reported in September, the company’s appeal to overturn that decision resulted in Europe’s highest court making a 5% reduction of the fine, about $215 million, at the time while generally agreeing with the regulators.

“The General Court largely confirms the Commission’s decision that Google imposed unlawful restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices and mobile network operators in order to consolidate the dominant position of its search engine,” the court said.