Fabio ManganielloJan 22, 2023

Outside of Europe, #Google's monopoly gets slammed by India too. The ruling says that:

- Google must allow alternative app stores (like F-Droid or ApkPure) on the Play Store. This is really the step zero for fair competition: give everybody the same visibility, and let users pick what they like.

- Google should not force Android providers to install its own apps in order to be a certified Android provider. Step one for fair competition: competition only works if none of the involved party starts from a position of advantage.

- Google should make the Play Store available also on Android forks. Step two for fair competition: if the competitors' stores are available on your store, then your store should also be available on the competitors' forks, and users eventually will pick what they like the most. All the distribution asymmetries should be removed.

This is a good and balanced ruling that aims to create a level playing field by removing all the bumps that, as of now, strongly consolidate Google's position of dominance.

And it's going to hit Google quite badly too: India is the largest global market for Android (arguably on par with China), and Google may be on its way to lose its unfair advantage there.

https://9to5google.com/2023/01/20/google-play-stroe-third-party-india/

Google Play Store will be forced to house other app stores by next week as India upholds ruling

A ruling in India will force the Google Play Store to distribute third-party app stores as soon as January 2023.

9to5Google
Show threadEnrique BarcelliJan 22, 2023

@blacklight
"Google claimed they would “hurt consumers” and “stall growth” of the Android platform."

Yeah... too bad. We don't care! 😆

Show threadWinter Jo   ❄️Jan 22, 2023
@kikobar @blacklight if the growth of the "android platform" is at the detriment of competition and humane technology, then maybe that growth shouldn't happen
Show threadFabio ManganielloJan 22, 2023

@ShadowJonathan @kikobar I actually believe that #Android may grow better and stronger without Google's anti-competitive behaviour.

The core of Android is open-source and it has a vibrant community around it. If other stores and app suites alternative to Google's had the same visibility as Google's, if phone producers weren't forced to do a deal with the devil in order to get the Android certification, if all the barriers were removed, then people would have more choice. With more choice comes more competition, with more competition comes more push for Google to make its product less shitty (take the case where the user can uninstall the Google's default apps and install the alternatives they like the most).

Not to mention the big push that the whole industry could have if only Google and Apple invested more on progressive web-apps instead of native apps: the real convergence between desktop and mobile that was dreamed by Steve Jobs. Unfortunately, both of them have strong incentives from the status quo because it puts them in a position where they are the sole gatekeepers that get 1/3 of the revenue stream that would go to app developers.

So when Google talks of "growth" they're talking about "growth of their own profit", not "growth of the industry" - those two metrics have been inversely proportional for a few years already.

Show threadWinter Jo   ❄️
@blacklight @kikobar i have a hard time believing android wouldn't just fracture and get scavenged by other mobile manufacturers the moment google loses grip of it, and that before they could even start to piece it back together, that apple has already overtaken everyone
Jan 22, 2023 at 5:34pmWeb
Show threadFabio ManganielloJan 23, 2023

@ShadowJonathan @kikobar I don't see much of that risk (I call it the "Linuxification" risk).

Fragmentation happened in Linux because the Linux environment has always been fragmented by design. It was just a kernel, with anything you want around it. After 30 years, we can't even agree on a universal package manager or desktop environment - let alone an editor.

Android is a bit different. After 15 years, you can say that most of the paradigms and foundations are pretty much in place, and everybody agrees on what an "Android experience" usually looks like (that's something that never happened on Linux).