Google Tells EU Court Paying to Pre-Install Google Search on Phones Was Necessary to Pit Android Against Apple

Google is trying to convince judges to dismiss a record EUR-4.3-billion (roughly Rs. 37,185 crores) EU antitrust fine.

By Reuters | Updated: 29 September 2021 18:05 IST

Google Tells EU Court Paying to Pre-Install Google Search on Phones Was Necessary to Pit Android Against Apple

Google was addressing the General Court on the third day of a week-long hearing

Highlights

The EU competition watchdog had taken issue with two kinds of deals
One is payments for only pre-installing Google Search
A verdict is likely to come next year

Payments to phone makers to pre-install only Google Search on their devices were not aimed at preventing competition but were necessary for Android to seize market share from Apple, Alphabet's Google told Europe's second-top court on Wednesday.

Google was addressing the General Court on the third day of a week-long hearing as it tries to get judges to dismiss a record EUR-4.3-billion (roughly Rs. 37,185 crores) EU antitrust fine and a European Commission order to loosen its search engine grip on Android devices.

The EU competition watchdog had taken issue with two kinds of deals made with phone makers, one being payments for only pre-installing Google Search on their devices known as revenue sharing arrangements (RSAs) because these shut out rivals.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

This was not the case and the payments were just to encourage phone makers, which were already generating money from other apps, to give Android a place, Google lawyer Assimakis Komninos told the court.

"Google had to offer an offsetting revenue stream. An incentive to convince them to open up and adopt the Android platform. At the same time, the RSAs also helped them to keep prices down and compete more successfully with Apple," he said.

"And obviously, Google was getting in return a promotional opportunity, sole preinstallation, which allowed it to invest in a free OS (operating system), a free app store and so on."

Australia Takes on Google's Online Advertising Dominance

On top of that, the RSAs only covered 5 percent of the market, Komninos said.

Commission lawyer Nicholas Khan rejected the claim.

"What concerned them was competitors gaining traction," he said and the RDAs were "the pinnacle of Google's interlocking practices".

A verdict is likely to come next year. The case is T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.

This week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, we discuss the Surface Pro 8, Go 3, Duo 2, and Laptop Studio — as Microsoft sets a vision for Windows 11 hardware. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.