Google woes could result in Android OS changes
By Ryan Noik 10 July 2018 | Categories: newsGoogle’s woes are apparently not limited to the privacy scandal that broke earlier this month. The latest salvo against the tech giant is coming from the EU, which are pressuring the company about its Android OS.
More particularly, regulators are displeased with the fact that in order for users to access the Play Store on their mobile devices, they have to acquiesce to having Google Chrome and Google Search installed on their devices first.
According to the Washington Post, Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition chief, has asserted that doing so in anti-competitive, making Google’s search and browser the dominant apps for use on Android, and giving Google’s ecosystem an unfair advantage.
Depending on the conclusion the EU comes to, the company will potentially face fines that run into billions of dollars. It may also be compelled to change the OS to level the playing field for other developers, a move that could also impact on the advertising revenue it garners from ads on its Play Store.
For users though, it could herald a revamp of the Android OS to comply with new regulations, and keep Google from coming under the anti-competitive knife again.
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