Google vs CCI over Android TV: How will it affect consumers?
While Google settled for Rs 20 crore the case against it at the Competition Commission of India, the issue goes much beyond business practices and has implications for users. The case was over allegations that the tech giant was forcing restrictive agreements on TV manufacturers who wanted to build Android smart TVs.
The case harks back to when TV manufacturers like Xiaomi India and TCL India filed the case alleging forced bundling of Google’s PlayStore on any TV they make which wanted to use the Android operating system, even while limiting these companies to offer forked android systems, basically meaning limiting them from offering any apps through any means other than the Google PlayStore.
The CCI probe found that it “imposed unfair terms by requiring the pre-installation of its full app bundle Google TV Services, preventing OEMs from developing or using Android forks, and hindering innovation”.
Google, of course, said after settling the issue that it will abide with the local laws.
However, while this case is specifically about smart television sets, the battle against app ecosystem on mobile devices, a virtual duopoly between Google’s PlayStore and Apple’s AppStore, has been going on not just in India but around the world for the last few years. And the regulatory pushback has only gotten stronger, with the most notable one being the epic battle, pun intended, between Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite, against both Apple and Google, which said these app stores were monopolies and that app developers should be given the freedom to have other payment options, too. While the case may not have fully gone in favour of Epic Games, at least it has now ensured that users are now informed of other options for payment other than through PlayStore or AppStore as the case may be.
In India, too, the matter came to head five years ago, when a PayTM app related to the IPL 2020 season was taken off Google PlayStore which alleged that it promoted gambling. PayTM mobilised the Indian app and tech scene to rally behind a Swadeshi cry, with the govt taking note of the issue and industry bodies calling for consultations. PayTM then launched its own Mini App Store, where you get app-like features without having to download or install any app. Last month PhonePe, the UPI market leader, also launched its own app store called Indus, with at least one major phone manufacturer, Xiaomi, already announcing it will come preloaded on its mobile phones.
For big tech, it’s been a bad week, with regulatory push back gaining momentum in many countries. In the US, a court recently said Google Ads was a monopoly, while the Federal Trade Commission alleges that Meta, parent of Facebook, bought up Instagram and WhatsApp to kill competition in social networking. There are also legal action against anyone from Apple to Amazon by US regulatory authorities, as well as other countries and the European Union.
It may also explain Google’s haste in settling the CCI case which relates to TV manufacturing only, though the Competition Commission has made it clear that Android TV makers – a vast majority of smart TVs in India are android – do not need to compulsorily bundle Google apps and PlayStore. All this, from the CCI case in India to the regulatory pushback in other countries, would have real world implications in the way you and me use our phones, laptops and TVs.
Business