Google Android Monopoly gets 177 million USD FINE

There are many software updates on Huawei devices that we are reporting but reports regarding Android is something different. Relatively, the Android monopoly of Google is now getting a 177 million USD fine, which fixes a long standing issue in its forking policy.

According to Reuters, South Korea’s antitrust regulator has fined Google 176 million USD (207 billion Korean won) for blocking Android operating system customization. This is quite a big development that has been made in Google’s recent setbacks and a problem that lead to big fine like this.

On this matter, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said Google’s contract terms with device makers amounted to an abuse of its dominant market position that restricted competition in the mobile market.

“The Korea Fair Trade Commission’s decision is meaningful in a way that it provides an opportunity to restore future competitive pressure in the mobile OS and app market markets,” KFTC Chairperson Joh Sung-wook said in a statement.

Interestingly, this is the ninth biggest fine that has ever been imposed on any firm by the antitrust regulator. The decision is made a day after an amendment made to South Korea’s Telecommunication Busines act also known as Anti-Google Law.

Google Restricted Android Customization:

KFTC reveals that Google expands Android monopoly to curbs competition by prohibiting device makers to abide by an anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA) while signing key contracts related to Play Store license. The AFA restricts makers to not equip customized Android version – Android forks. That helps Google to grip a large sum of mobile operating system market share.

The latest ruling breaks Google’s Android monopoly and the company is now banned from enforcing its anti-forking rules on device makers under the AFA contracts. This would allow manufacturers to use customized Android versions on their deivces.

Samsung was a victim:

Although, Samsung counts as one of the biggest Android partners in the world but KFTC also mentioned Samsung’s instance. The regulator said that Samsung launched a smartwatch with a customized OS in 2013 but later switched to a different OS after Google took this entire development as a violation of AFA contract.

Google’s Response:

Google also came into effect to reply on this subject, saying that it annually provides 5.1 trillion won worth of benefits for South Koreans through its Play Store, 4.2 trillion won through its search engine service, and 2.5 trillion won through its productivity apps, including Google Docs, citing a report from consulting firm AlphaBeta.

The U.S. tech maker also added that it also annually provides 10.5 trillion won, which is equal to around 10.16 billion USD, in economic benefits for South Korean companies.

More importantly, the company didn’t provide any insights on how these figures are generated about a corresponding product or the overall sum.

“We will continue to do our best to support our partners to grow and advance into the world and to positively contribute to the South Korean economy,” Google Korea’s Country Director Kim Kyoung-hoon said during the event.