Google vows to cooperate with India antitrust watchdog after Android ruling

After the Supreme Court upheld stringent antitrust directives requiring the U.S. company to change how it markets its popular Android platform in a key growth market, Google announced on Friday that it will collaborate with India's competition authority.

In October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) decided that Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., exploited its dominant position in Android and ordered it to remove restrictions on device manufacturers, such as those pertaining to the pre-installation of apps and ensuring that its search is exclusive. Google was also assessed a $161 million fine.

Google has been worried about India's decision because it looks like it will take more drastic measures than the European Commission's historic 2018 ruling against Android. According to estimates from Counterpoint Research, Android powers approximately 97% of the 600 million smartphones in India, while the operating system powers 75% of the 550 million smartphones in Europe.

Google was given seven days to comply after losing a challenge in India's Supreme Court to block the CCI directives on Thursday. This will force the company to change how it negotiates agreements with device manufacturers that use its free, open-source Android platform.

A Google spokesperson told Reuters in a statement, "We remain committed to our users and partners and will cooperate with the CCI on the way forward," without elaborating on the possible actions the company might take.

It went on to say, "We are reviewing the details of yesterday's decision, which was limited to interim relief and did not decide the merits of our appeal."

A lower tribunal, where Google first challenged the Android directives, can continue to hear the company's appeal and must rule by March 31, according to India's highest court. On Friday, Google stated that it would proceed with the appeal "in parallel."

Google had warned the Supreme Court that the development of its Android ecosystem would stall in an effort to thwart the CCI directives' implementation. If the directives take effect, it stated, it would be compelled to alter agreements with over 1,100 device manufacturers and thousands of app developers.

In addition, "no other jurisdiction has ever asked for such far-reaching changes," according to Google's filing with the Indian Supreme Court.

Neil Shah, Counterpoint Research's research director, stated that the Indian directives "will set precedence on how much Google is forced to open up the Android platform to third party local app stores, apps, and services."

He stated, "It will be challenging." This will be a significant shock that will cause confusion and chaos because we are talking about close to 600 million Android users.

Google was fined in Europe for imposing what the European Commission deemed to be unlawful restrictions on Android device manufacturers. In that case, Google is still challenging the record-breaking $4.3 billion fine.

There, Google made changes such as allowing Android device owners to select their preferred search engine and announcing that device manufacturers will be able to license the Google mobile application suite independently of the Google Search App and Chrome browser.

According to Google, the Supreme Court would "prevent Google from securing pre-installation of its revenue-generating apps and, consequently, (will) force Google to charge a licence fee" if smartphone makers were to selectively preload apps in accordance with the CCI's directive.

The company warned that as input costs rise for manufacturers, this could make mobile phones more expensive.