Google may likely be fined again by the European Union and this time it could be much larger than $2.7 Billion. This is because Google has been asking Android smartphone manufacturers to include Google search and Chrome as default apps on their phones if they want access to other apps of Google in their Play services package Google is also said to be stopping phone manufacturers from using rival versions of Android on their phones and paying them to include Google search as the default search app on their phones. While the fine is the primary concern for Google, another major concern would be to remove its default apps like the Google Chrome and search from the Google Play services. This means they would no longer be set as default in phones manufactured by other companies and these companies could set their app of choice as default.
Google’s Tough Decision
Since Android is running in billions of devices and all of them having Google’s apps as defaults, Google is already enjoying a huge mobile market share. Also, one of the main reasons why Google initially acquired Android and started Open Alliance was to compete in the smartphone market and to reach out to millions of mobile users. Now, it would be a tough decision for Google to remove its apps from Android as the default ones, especially since there a lot of similar apps out there as alternatives. And with smartphone manufacturers like Samsung developing their own set of apps and if they were allowed set these as defaults, Google may face difficulty in sustaining in its own game.
Not the First Case
Similar to Google, Microsoft was also accused by the European Union, 10 years back for bundling their Windows Media Player and the Internet Explorer with their Windows operating system. Microsoft had to release a separate version of Windows for Europe after removing these apps as default choices in order to solve the issue. The EU has appointed a panel of experts to review this accusation on Google and their decision on this case would be revealed by the end of this year. (Source)
