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
@blacklight What about Apple tho

@atomic they've been in their legal quarrels with Epic for a while by now, both about the store commission and the fact that users can't install apps from other sources.

I also believe that #Apple should be punished more than Google in this regard. At least on Android you can still download another store from another website or install an APK directly.