To settle a dispute with Russian competition authorities that has been running for two years already, Google has finally agreed to allow its competitors to get into the Android mobile operating system. This means that Android smartphones and tablets will not just be all about Google, as the company continues to face various lawsuits all over the world, with competitors claiming unfair advantage with their business practices. The Russian court actually declared back in 2015 that the tech giant is breaking the law with these practices.
In an out-of-court deal with FAS, the competition watchdog in Russia, Google will no longer require Android device manufacturers to have the Google products, especially the Google search engine itself, to be pre-installed on the smartphones and tablets. The complaint was first brought by Yandex, a Russian tech company, who of course wanted a fair deal where any search engine can be pre-installed if an OEM so wishes. So with this deal, Google will no longer have exclusivity over apps on Android-based devices in Russia.
Google will also have to develop a tool wherein users can choose which default search engine they will use on their Android devices. It may be something similar to that tool where you can choose which is the default browser when opening links in social networks and other apps. Through this tool, users will also be able to easily change their settings and preferences when it comes to apps related to Google, particularly the search functions.
This may actually be a precedent on how Google will deal with the other cases and complaints lodged against them. The head of Yandex’s Russian operations, Alexander Shuglin, said he is hoping that similar cases in Europe and other countries will also go this way.
VIA: Reuters
