Last December, a jury unanimously ruled that Google’s Android app store was an illegal monopoly. Judge James Donato, overseeing the case, held a final hearing on remedies the day before. “We’re going to knock down the barriers, that’s what it’s going to be. The world we have today is the result of monopolists. That world is going to change,” said Judge Donato. He will issue his final ruling in more than two weeks. Plaintiff Epic Games won the case, but the judge will decide how to remedy the damage caused by Google’s monopoly.
Proposed Changes and Challenges
In April, Epic Games asked Google to allow competing stores to host apps on Google Play, as well as to open up all Google Play apps to alternative platforms. This would give users the freedom to choose which platform to use for each app. In the final hearing, both sides agreed that opening the Play Store was feasible. However, there was debate about the timeline, costs, and whether Google moderators would need to review every app in competing stores before they could appear on Google Play, notes NIXsolutions.
Google’s representatives argued that their store would never include apps from extremist organizations. An Epic Games representative countered that Google reviewing apps on third-party platforms would give the company powers it had already abused. As the discussion escalated, Judge Donato proposed forming a “technical compliance and monitoring committee” that would include one representative from each company, plus a third party agreed upon by both sides.
“When there’s a mountain built of bad behavior, it needs to be moved. And so it will be,” the judge promised. We’ll keep you updated on the final ruling and its implications for the future of app distribution on Android devices.