The search giant Google, on Wednesday, was reported to have been abusing its dominance in the Android ecosystem which has led to the company getting a $5.04 billion fine by EU.
Two years ago, the search giant received a $2.7 billion fine for manipulating search results by keeping its own shopping comparison website on top of others.
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However, the European officials have been investigating Android OS since April 2015 after FairSearch trading group filed a complaint against Google in 2013. The group which includes tech giants like Microsoft, Oracle among many others backed the complaint and even called Google a “monopoly” in the Android market then.
According to the report, the search giant has been paying smartphone manufacturers heavy amounts to keep it search app as default search app.
Google is expected to take action on this practice within 90 days or face even more severe penalties of up to 5% of its average daily revenue.
Future Android May No Longer Be Free
Following the EU’s decision, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai suggested they may not be able to offer Android for free if the decision stands.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“So far, the Android business model has meant that we haven’t had to charge phone makers for our technology, or depend on a tightly-controlled distribution model,” said Pichai.
“If phone makers and mobile network operators couldn’t include our apps on their wide range of devices, it would upset the balance of the Android ecosystem.”
“Phone makers don’t have to include our services; and they’re also free to pre-install competing apps alongside ours. This means that we earn revenue only if our apps are installed, and if people choose to use our apps instead of the rival apps,” said Pichai.
[/perfectpullquote]We all know smartphone manufacturers have developed their own apps for their devices, but still, they are forced to install Google apps, Chrome browser precisely as default on their devices.
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Moreover if the EU ruling comes into force, these manufacturers would be able to use their own browser app as default and Google chrome may or may not be included in future. Also, provision to change the default search engine will be added.
Before now, Google search has already gained a lot of popularity, gone are the day when Java and Symbian device were still widely used. If i would search anything, it’s Google all the way. The Chrome browser is also very popular among browser app and widely used on PC and smartphones, that If eventually the EU ruling comes into force, the vast majority of the billions of people who are using them on a daily basis will continue to do so in the future.