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Google’s Play Store is a monopoly, according to the U.S. courts, so it’s time for the defacto Android app store to truly open up to competition. On Monday, a judge ruled the tech giant needs to immediately stop hindering any competing app store from jumping on the Android bandwagon. Of course, Google is letting things lie. The makers of Android said they plan to appeal the decision on the back of the argument that it can’t possibly hold a monopoly on app stores because Apple exists.
U.S. Northern District of California Judge James Donato ordered Google to halt making any efforts to “guarantee Play Store exclusivity” on Android. That means it can’t share any Play Store revenue with third-party companies for the next three years starting Nov 1. Donato wrote in his final ruling that these two provisions would “level the playing field for the entry and growth of rivals, without burdening Google excessively.”
Most importantly for Android users, Google has to offer the full catalog of Play Store apps to third-party shops. In effect, we may finally see app makers advertise better prices for their applications or in-app purchases outside of the Play Store and Google Play Billing.
App store makers can also advertise other ways consumers can download their apps outside of the Play Store. We’ll have to see if any Android phone makers decide to load up third-party shops like Epic Games Store on their devices. But let’s be clear: More choice for Android users is a good thing. The only question is how Google will implement any of these changes. If the Mountain View company had its way, it wouldn’t have to.
Google has less than a month to enact these changes, which may be another reason it’s asking for a stay. In a blog post published late on Monday, Google’s VP of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said the company plans to appeal. Mulholland’s main argument is that Google is already competing with Apple’s iOS and App Store for mobile dominance, so there’s no way it can be a monopoly.
Though Donato mentioned in his ruling that Google’s lawyers “agreed to the prohibitions,” the company is asking the court to pause any injunctions until after the appeal process is finished.
“Developers have finite resources and have to decide how much time and money to devote to building and updating their apps for each platform,” she wrote. “We build tools, run training programs, and invest in making it as easy as possible to develop for Android. Apple, of course, does the same.”
The ruling came out of Epic’s big app store lawsuits against both Google and Apple over both companies’ limitations on in-app purchases. In December, a jury found Google was indeed holding a monopoly for app stores and app purchases on Android. Donato’s decision is the culmination of more than four years of back-and-forth lawsuits between Google and critics who said the company has routinely restricted third parties from competing.
Google did get one win. It’s still allowed to use its own security apparatus to police app stores. Google can charge third-party app stores for its own security measures if that security is “comparable to the measures Google is currently taking for apps proposed to be listed in the Google Play Store.”
Apple has had far more success in the courts arguing for its own App Store, a fact Google points to in its own mention of appeal. Epic Games Store is still restricted on iOS in the U.S., though it is enabled for EU customers. What helped Epic in Google’s case was a wave of internal documents displaying how far the tech giant went to keep Play Store dominant, including paying major developers to halt any plans for third-party app stores.
Meanwhile, Epic is still in a fighting mood. Last month, it brought a separate lawsuit against Samsung and Google over its “Auto Blocker” feature, which restricts third-party app stores. Epic claimed Google and Samsung worked together to enable features to keep third-party app stores from competing. For its part, Samsung said users can simply switch Auto Blocker off.
