New Delhi – Indian antitrust watchdog has ruled that Google restricted mobile manufactures from opting for alternate versions of its Android mobile operating system, abusing its dominant position, Reuters has reported.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a probe the news report said adding that Google’s restrictions on manufacturers seemed to amount to imposition of “unfair conditions” under India’s competition law.
CCI had launched a probe in April against Google for its alleged abuse of Android’s dominant position to block rivals, the report said
Google faced a similar case in Europe, where the European Commission (EC) imposed a $5 billion fine on the company for forcing manufacturers to pre-install its apps on Android devices. The decision has been challenged by the search engine.
By making pre-installation of Google’s proprietary apps conditional, Google “reduced the ability and incentive of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices operated on alternate versions of Android”, the Reuter report said quoting the CCI. “It amounts to prima facie leveraging of Google’s dominance” the report said further.
More than 80% of the smartphones run on Android platform.
Google argued that Android was an open source platform and pre-installation obligations were “limited in scope, the report said quoting the order.
