Google says CCI decision will make Android smartphones expensive in India – Times of India

Google recently approached the Supreme Court against the Rs 1,337 crore penalty and separately pointed out that the Android-related case would be ‘bad’ for users in India. It said that the recommendations by the antitrust agency will increase the prices of Android phones – among other things – in the country.
What is the Google-CCI case?
Last year, CCI imposed a total fine of Rs 2,273 crore on Google in two separate orders. In the first case, the company was fined Rs 1,337 crore for abusing its dominant position in the Android mobile device ecosystem. CCI fined Google Rs 936 crore for abusing its monopoly through Play Store.
CCI even made recommendations for fair competition in the Indian market, however, Google said that the move by the antitrust watchdog will stall Android growth in India and hurt consumers by jeopardising their device’s security.
It approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) seeking a stay order, however, the tribunal refused to put a stay and asked the technology giant to pay 10% of the Rs 1,337 crore fine. After getting no respite from the NCLAT, Google moved to the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the order.

CCI recommendations for Google
CCI said that Google should not make it mandatory for OEMs to pre-install and place prominently Google’s proprietary apps and services. It added that the company must not restrict uninstalling of its pre-installed apps by the users.
The technology giant was also told to not offer any monetary/ other incentives to OEMs for ensuring exclusivity for its search services. “The company shall not deny access to its Play Services APIs to disadvantage OEMs, app developers and its existing or potential competitors,” the CCI order read.
What Google has to say
Google says that there are many different and unique versions of Android that are called ‘forks’, harming the consistent and predictable Android ecosystem. The company explains that smartphones that are built on incompatible ‘forks’ will prevent Google from securing them because these will “not support the security and user safety features that Google provides.”
“Lack of robust and consistent security upgrades will leave the users of those devices exposed to cybercrime, bugs, and malware – which is most troubling for the millions of new internet users who are especially vulnerable,” Google explained. India has 700 million Android users.
The company also said that its measures keep predatory apps – which expose users to financial fraud, data theft and a number of other online dangers both from India and other countries – at bay ensuring that users stay safe.
“Unchecked proliferation of such apps on less secure devices can expose vast swathes of Indian users to risk of their data being exposed and pose threats for individual and national security,” Google notes.

CCI order to make smartphones expensive
As per the Alphabet-owned company, the CCI order will also increase prices of Android smartphones because OEMs will have to invest their resources to provide security and functionality on their smartphones – which is currently provided by Google. The cost of setting up an infrastructure and resources needed to check harmful elements in the ‘forks’ will be trickled down to customers.
“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, who will need to invest extensively in creating consistent, all-year-round security upgrades themselves. This will result in higher costs for the OEMs, and consequently, more expensive devices for Indian consumers” it said.
Google says that Android ‘forks’ will also increase the cost for app developers because they will have to either prioritise for which ‘fork’ they need to write and maintain apps for or to write apps for all ‘forks’. While larger developers can handle this, smaller developers that have a ‘level playing field’ in the Android ecosystem will suffer from the competition.