Google: In a major decision that was made by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday imposed a fine of 137.76 crore. 1,337.76 million on Google for squandering its dominance in various markets within the Android mobile device ecosystem, in addition to the issue of a cease and desist or order to the technology giant.
Google was given 30 days to provide the required financial information and documents.
The antitrust watchdog, which started conducting an investigation into Google several years ago following receiving complaints from local firms, also directed Google to not offer any incentive for smartphone manufacturers to exclusively offer its search services.
The Commission evaluated the practices employed by Google in relation to the licensing of the Android the mobile OS as well as the various mobile applications that are proprietary to Google (Play Store, Google Search, Google Chrome, YouTube etc.).
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In the course of an investigation, Google argued about the challenges it faced in battling Apple.
“In regard to understanding the degree of the competition between the Google Android ecosystem as well as Apple’s iOS ecosystem The Commission observed the differentiating characteristics of both business models, which impact the motivations that drive business choices,” the CCI said in an announcement.
Apple’s operations are primarily built upon a vertically connected device ecosystem, which is focused on the sale of premium devices that have the most advanced software components.
However, Google’s business was revealed that it was driven by goal of gaining more users to its platforms, so that they interact with its revenue-generating services, i.e., online search. This directly impacts sales of online advertising services offered by Google.
The Commission added that there may be a amount of competition among the mobile platforms, i.e., Android and Apple However, this is also a bit limited in the moment of making a decision about which one to purchase.
Google manages the operation of and manages the Android OS as well as licenses the other applications it has developed and OEMs make use of this OS and Google’s apps on their mobile devices.
Google has yet to respond in response to CCI ruling.
The Commission also stated that market should be able to compete on merits , and the burden falls on the leading players (in the current case, Google) to ensure that their behavior doesn’t interfere with market competition based on merits.
“Google has maintained its dominant position in the market for search, leading to being denied access to market to rival search apps, which is in violation in Section 4(2)(c) in the Act,” said the CCI.
In addition to imposing a monetary penalty In addition to imposing monetary penalties, it also imposed a monetary penalty. Commission also issued a cease and desist orders against Google for engaging into anti-competitive practices which were found to be in violation of the provisions in Section 4 of the Act.
“Google cannot deny access to the Play Services APIs to disadvantage OEMs or app developers as well as its competitors, whether they are existing or upcoming. This will ensure compatibility of applications between Android OS which complies with the compatibility specifications for Google as well as Android Forks,” it declared.
