news/GOOGL/2023.01.19/Google vows to cooperate with India antitrust watchdog after Android ruling.txt

NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Google said on
Friday it will cooperate with India's competition authority
after the Supreme Court upheld stringent antitrust directives
forcing the U.S. firm to change how it markets its popular
Android platform in a key growth market.The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ruled in October
that Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, exploited its
dominant position in Android and told it to remove restrictions
on device makers, including those related to pre-installation of
apps and ensuring exclusivity of its search. It also fined
Google $161 million.Google has been concerned about India's decision as the
steps are seen as more sweeping than those imposed in the
European Commission's landmark 2018 ruling against Android.
About 97% of 600 million smartphones in India run on Android,
while in Europe, the system accounts for 75% of the 550 million
smartphones, according to Counterpoint Research estimates.On Thursday, Google lost a challenge in India's Supreme
Court to block the CCI directives, getting seven days to comply,
a move that will force the company to make changes to how it
strikes agreements with device makers who use its free,
open-source Android platform."We remain committed to our users and partners and will
cooperate with the CCI on the way forward," a Google
spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters, without explaining
the steps it could take."We are reviewing the details of yesterday's decision which
is limited to interim relief and did not decide the merits of
our appeal," it added.India's highest court also said a lower tribunal - where
Google first challenged the Android directives - can continue to
hear the company's appeal and must rule by March 31. Google said
on Friday it will pursue the appeal "in parallel."Hoping to block the implementation of the CCI directives,
Google had approached the Supreme Court by warning growth of its
Android ecosystem will stall. It said it would be forced to
alter arrangements with more than 1,100 device manufacturers and
thousands of app developers if the directives kick in.Google's Indian Supreme Court filing also stated "no other
jurisdiction has ever asked for such far-reaching changes."The Indian directives "will set precedence on how much
Google is forced to open up the Android platform to third party
local app stores, apps and services," said Neil Shah, research
director at Counterpoint Research."It will be challenging," he said. "We are talking about
close to 600 million Android users here - will be a significant
jolt, creating confusion and chaos."In Europe, Google was fined for putting in place what the
Commission called unlawful restrictions on Android mobile device
makers. Google is still challenging the record $4.3 billion fine
in that case.There, Google made changes including letting Android device
users pick their default search engine and said device makers
will be able to license the Google mobile application suite
separately from the Google Search App or the Chrome browser.Google told the Supreme Court if smartphone makers cherry
pick which apps to preload, as the CCI ordered, it would
"prevent Google from securing pre-installation of its
revenue-generating apps and, consequently, (will) force Google
to charge a license fee."This, the company warned, could lead to mobile handsets
getting costlier as input costs rise for manufacturers.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Janane
Venkatraman, William Mallard and Jacqueline Wong)