Will European Union Penalty On Google Lead To Competition In Mobile Operating System Space

There is a saying in our country ,'Vo sab dekh raha hai' which implies that one should be fearful of what one does as God watches every one and everything. I am not sure God exists or not but for sure Google is watching ! 

With increasing Google clout over mobile and other platforms, nothing is hidden now be it your spending pattern, clothing, fashion preferences, eating and reading habits or your political leaning ; and in its own way it is trying to influence it.  

There is a growing awareness about this monopoly, based on such feedback,  European Union has recently imposed penalty on Google with a record $5.1 billion . Specifically, Union authorities dinged Google on its practices with Android, the mobile operating system that the company provides to the to the makers of mobile devices. The size of the fine and the remedies that the regulators ordered Google to make were consequential, both symbolically and in how the handset manufacturers may incorporate Android into mobile devices in Europe in future.

The Problem

Android is one of the most prevalent mobile operating systems, used in eighty percent of the world's smart phones.

Google freely provides the Android operating system to third party handset makers. As a part of arrangement, Google requires the Android phone makers to pre-install 11 Google apps on their phones. That strategy has helped Google's signature products- Search, maps, G Mail and the Chrome Search browser among them-reach out to more than one billion people.

The European Union ruled that Google abused its power by forcing phone companies like Samsung, HTC, Huawei to make those services the primary products on their phones in order to gain access to other Google apps. Now the regulators want Google to change its way so that other players, like rival search engine providers and browser makers, can meaningfully compete. Specifically, the European Union wants Google to stop tying together its search , browser and app store products for the handset makers.

It is clear that Google’s practices have denied rival search engines the possibility to compete on their merits. They made sure that Google search engine is pre-installed on practically all Android devices, which is an advantage that cannot be matched.

And by making payments to major manufacturers and network operators on condition that no other search app or search engine was pre-installed — well, then rivals were excluded from this opportunity.

Google’s practices also harmed competition and further innovation in the wider mobile space, beyond just Internet search — and that’s because they prevented other mobile browsers from competing effectively with the pre-installed Google Chrome browser.

 Google obstructed the development of Android forks. This could have provided a platform for rival search engines as well as other app developers to thrive.

Do you remember Amazon’s Android fork, Fire OS any more ? No, because it suffered from Google’s contractual arrangements with device manufacturers. In 2012 and 2013 Amazon tried hard to license to mobile manufacturers its Android fork, called Fire OS. It wanted to co-operate with manufacturers to increase its chances of commercial success. And manufacturers also initially shown interest but due to Google’s restrictions, they could not launch Fire OS on even a single device,

They would have lost the right to sell any Android phone with key Google apps. Nowadays, very few devices run with Fire OS. Namely only those manufactured by Amazon themselves. And this is not a proportionate outcome. Google is entitled to set technical requirements to ensure that functionality and apps within its own Android ecosystem runs smoothly. But these technical requirements cannot serve as a smokescreen to prevent the development of competing Android ecosystems.

Google cannot have its cake and eat it. Google’s actions as monopolistic towards data, saying that by blocking rival apps and services it also denied rivals access to valuable data from increased user traffic which in turn could have allowed rivals to improve their products.

Its not only European Union, even Russians also objected to monopoly of Google in this domain. Google reached a $7.8M settlement with Russian antitrust authorities over Android — which required the company to no longer demand exclusivity of its applications on Android devices in Russia; could not restrict the pre-installation of any competing search engines and apps, including on the home screen; could no longer require Google Search to be the only general search engine pre-installed. Google also agreed with Russian antitrust authorities that it would no longer enforce its prior agreements where handset makers had agreed to any of these terms. Additionally, as part of the settlement, Google was required to allow third parties to include their own search engines into a choice window, and to allowing users to pick their preferred default search engine from a choice window displayed in Google’s Chrome browser. The company was also required to develop a new Chrome widget for Android devices already being used in Russia, to replace the standard Google search widget on the home screen so they would be offered a choice when it launched.

Game Changer

It remains unclear that how it will change the android phone market. Let us use the current example ; when you buy a Samsung phone, it comes with two browsers, two virtual assistants and two messaging apps.  That is because Samsung pre-installs its own apps alongside Google's apps, which it was required to include.
The regulators would love it if Google simply let handsets makers like Samsung ship Android phones loaded with their own browsers and app stores instead of Google's . Yet the European Union is letting Google to decide how it wants to comply with its ruling. Keep in mind that Google is staffed with some of the world's top lawyers and engineers, who will probably find compliance solutions that have a minimal impact on its business. The other thing is that the handset makers are tough predicament. They probably would not want to strip their phones of the Google apps, simply because many customers enjoy using search giant's products.

Impact on Android

There is only a slim chance that one can see any change. Even if Google makes some tweaks to its operating system in the next 90 days, they would most likely show in the latest versions. The overwhelming majority of android devices are running older versions of the operating syste, and many no longer receive updates from the manufacturers. Hardly five percent are running on the latest android, called Oreo.
Will It Impact Non-Europeans
The implications of this ruling involves many ifs. In case Google decides to make any noticeable changes at all, the changes might appear only for Android users living in European Union that too having phones with newer android operating system.
This is to be seen how Indian government also take tougher instance in the light of this ruling.
So in case the governments across the globe compel Google to end this monopoly this will definitely improve the face of mobile operating system.  




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