India concludes Google abused power for Android market share

Google has abused its power to suppress rival smartphone operating systems with Android, an Indian antitrust investigation finds. That investigation has not yet been made public, but Reuters has already seen it.

The Competition Commission of India concludes after two years of investigation that Google “reduced the ability and incentive of manufacturers to develop and sell devices that run on alternative versions of Android” by using its “great financial power”.

Reuters goes on to say that the CCI believes the mandatory pre-installation of Google apps on Android smartphones is “imposing unfair competition on manufacturers” and is a violation of India’s competition law.

Although Reuters was able to access the 750-page report, Google has not yet received it, according to news medium sources. During the course of the investigation, it answered questions from the researchers and defended itself 24 times. In addition, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi were also questioned by the investigation committee. After the final completion of the investigation, Google will be given a chance to defend itself, after which a possible fine or other sanction will be imposed. Google can also appeal against sanctions.

Android is said to run on 98 percent of smartphones in India, according to Counterpoint Research, quoted by Reuters. Statcounter keeps it at 95.8 percent.

Google is more often at loggerheads with governments in the area of ​​competition. The tech giant has received fines of 500 million euros, 220 million euros and 102 million euros in recent months. He got it in France and Italy. In 2017, the European Commission imposed a mega fine of 2.42 billion euros for favoring Google Shopping in Google Search.