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The Indian anti-trust authority has fined Google more than $160 million after finding that the internet giant misused its dominant position in the country’s smartphone industry.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!According to research firm Counterpoint, Google’s Android mobile operating system is by far the most popular in India and is used on 95% of all smartphones in the nation. However, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) claimed that Google’s operating system was set up to forcibly remove competitors to YouTube, Chrome, and other well-known Google apps.
In a statement released by CCI on Thursday, October 20, the business said that Android’s pre-installed Google apps, which included its own search engine, “awarded significant competitive edge to Google’s search services over its competitors.”
The statement said, “Markets should be permitted to compete on merits, and it is incumbent upon (Google) to ensure that its conduct does not impede this competition on merits.”
The business has been ordered by the commission to allow Android users to uninstall any pre-installed Google apps, or else face a fine of 13.4 billion rupees ($162 million).
Additionally, it advised Google not to strike any deals with smartphone manufacturers that would encourage them to sell just Android-based handsets or to only use its software.
In a related anti-trust case, the European Union penalized Google $4.1 billion and determined that it had placed “unlawful limitations” on smartphone manufacturers in order to advance its search engine.
After China, India has the second-highest number of smartphone users worldwide, with yearly sales of more than 169 million units.
