Google responds to CCI ruling, outlines impact on India ops

In an extensive blogpost, the tech giant has said that the CCI’s directions will lead to “different and unique” versions of its patent Android operating system for mobile phones.

These versions of Android, called “forks” would prevent Google from securing the devices as they will not support the “security and user safety” features that the company provides.

ETtech Explainer | How CCI’s Android ruling could affect Google

“Since incompatible Android forks will not support the security and user safety features that Google provides, security responsibilities for these devices will instead fall to the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), who will need to invest extensively in creating consistent, all-year-round security upgrades themselves,” the company said in a blogpost.

This, in turn, will force OEMs to raise the prices for smartphones in the country, the company said.

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The company is facing two adverse orders by the CCI, passed on October 20 and October 25 last year. In both the orders, apart from levying penalties of Rs 1,337 crore and Rs 936 crore, respectively, the competition regulator had also asked Google to implement a series of policy changes to prevent abuse of dominant position in the Android market and Play Store.

For example, in the first order passed on October 20, the CCI had laid down about a dozen measures requiring the American company to provide fair access to all stakeholders.

The competition regulator had, while ruling that device makers should not have to –pre-install other services offered by Google, also said that licensing of the Play Store to OEMs will not be linked with the requirement of pre-installing Google search services, the Chrome browser, YouTube and other bouquet of Google applications.

In its blogpost on Friday, Google said that it was due to Android’s compatibility programs that even small developers had immediate access to a vast user base and were able to compete with large developers “based on the merit and superiority of the product”.

“They (small developers) will no longer have the level playing field they have today with Android, and larger developers, who can support a wider range of incompatible forks, will be able to dominate the market based on their scale, rather than the quality of their product,” Google said.

The CCI’s rulings, the company further said, could leave the next wave of Indians who join the internet ecosystem “exposed to cybercrime, bugs, and malware”.