We all are aware of the Android Antitrust battle going between Google and the European Union. Google reacted to the fine imposed over them by EU with imposing a licensing fee on the Android smartphone makers in Europe. On Tuesday, 16th of Oct 2018, the tech giant announced that a licensing fee will be there for the device manufacturers to access the Google Play Store.
What good could licensing fee do to Google?
The European Commission hit Google with $5B for Android Antitrust Abuse on July of 18th this year. Google straightaway gainsaid all the allegations of market dominance over them and came up quoting, “Android has always provided more choices for everyone, not less”. The company claimed that the platform has been a reason abaft the livelihood of European developers.
And, now when Google has played its move of putting charges over the usage of Android apps in Europe, the question arises, is it an intellectual move? There is a marginal possibility that with this attempt the company might lose their grip on the search and browser industry as they have today. This decision of Google has withal opened the doors for other device makers as well to come up with their own stores.
For instance, Samsung could bring their galaxy apps into the phones in lieu of going for the paid chrome and Google search. So now, in the upcoming time, we might even witness the smartphones without Google Apps. This could leave the company with more competitors and increasing culls.
Closing Arguments
The Google had earlier appealed against the fine in the European court of law on the 9th of this month and now they have come up with this latest licensing policy. Looks like, they perceived that their appeal isn’t going at any conclusion.
So, this can’t be soothsaid right now will this action of the tech biggie would redress their balance for good this time or it will land them in hot waters. That, only time will tell.