Google’s making major changes to the way Android works in India
Google has come under the gun for anti-competitive practices in recent years. The United States Department of Justice filed amajor antitrust lawsuitagainst the company over its digital ad dominance this week, followingan earlier suitabout alleged abuse of market share in the search segment. But it’s not just Google’s online presence facing legal scrutiny — the company’s Android policieswere deemed monopolistic in India, and now, major changes are in store for the world’s largest mobile operating system.
After Google lost itslast appeal to the Indian Supreme Court, it had until January 26 to comply with the Competition Committee of India’s directives. On the eve of this deadline, the company announcedfundamental changesto Android’s licensing rules in India that will have a major impact on consumers.
The most interesting changes from an end-user perspective involve the installation of apps from sources other than the Google Play Store. Now, users will be able to automatically update apps that have been sideloaded, and third-party app stores will be able to issue automatic app updates in the same way that the Play Store currently does. Users will first have to acknowledge the security risks of allowing third-party sources to install updates automatically before enabling the feature.
Another major shift is coming to the search experience on Android phones in India. Users will now be able to choose a default search engine provider during the initial setup process, and this would presumably supplant Google as the provider for searches through the home screen and default browser.
In-app purchases (IAPs), which became a subject of scrutiny after Fortnite creatorEpic Games sued Apple and Googleover policies that assured their app stores would receive a 30% cut of all sales, are being affected by this directive as well. Now, users in India will be able to choose a billing system other than Google Play when making in-app purchases, which could lead to app and game developers getting a larger share of their profits.
The other changes aren’t as directly user-facing but could have major ramifications nonetheless. Smartphone manufacturers in India will now be able to license Google apps on an individual basis, a departure from the company’s all-or-nothingGMS licensing system, which required OEMs to include a large bundle of Google apps if they wanted access to the Play Store. Manufacturers will now also have a path to building approved, forked versions of Android — a change that could lead to more competition in the mobile operating system market.
While these changes are specific to India, mounting legal pressure around the world could eventually force Google to make these consumer-friendly features available to other markets. For example,the EU has similar ongoing litigationagainst the company, and Google isclose to exhausting its appeals there.
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