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Google seeks to undo Epic Games antitrust win over app store (techxplore.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is asking a federal appeals court to throw out a ruling in an antitrust case brought by Fortnite-maker Epic Games that would force the search giant to overhaul its Play mobile app store.

[...]

A San Francisco jury concluded in December 2023 that Google violated antitrust law by blocking rival app stores through a series of revenue-sharing agreements with mobile device makers like Samsung. Following up with a fix in October, Donato ordered Google to allow developers to set up app marketplaces and offer consumers billing options other than its own payment system.

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is now asking a federal appeals court to throw out a ruling in an antitrust case brought by Fortnite-maker Epic Games that would force the search giant to overhaul its Play mobile app store.

[...]

Epic first sued Google and Apple in August 2020, accusing them of blocking competition for rival app stores. The judge in the Apple case largely ruled against Epic, though she directed the iPhone maker to make some changes to its App Store rules. Epic and Apple are currently fighting in an Oakland federal court over whether the iPhone maker is abiding by that ruling.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I think the difference is that on a PC, the barrier to installing Epic or GOG is the same as Steam, but with phones and tablets, the operating system itself does everything it can to scare you away from installing an "unofficial" app. There have been plenty of bad actors on the Play Store, but Google is fine pretending like their store is perfect and secure. The fact is, we live in a world where most people take the path of least resistance, and Google is using their money and power to incentivize manufacturers and end-users into certain behaviors. That just harms smaller companies from being able to properly compete.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

But that is a decision the user takes, not Google. If people don't want to install alternative stores because its too much work, then its not Googles fault. The problem is that phone manufactures do not have the alternative stores installed (besides Samsung). Its entirely in the hands of phone manufacturers and they should be sued over, not Google.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Google has agreements with the manufacturers that prevent or heavily disincentivize the manufacturers from doing that, otherwise they essentially can't use Android.

It's all Google.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

In that case, its all Google I agree.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I know it's insidious. This shit sandwich has so many layers by design that it's easy to misinform even courts, much less people with limited time or willingness to talk about these things.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

From now on whenever I talk about Android with Google Play Services I'll refer to it as the "shit sandwich OS"