~ MamakTalk ~: Google Responds To Play Store Lawsuit, Makes Some Good Points

2021年7月9日星期五

Google Responds To Play Store Lawsuit, Makes Some Good Points

In case you missed the memo, Google is being sued by 36 US states over the Play Store. It didn’t take Google long to respond to that Play Store antitrust lawsuit, as it issued a response on its official website.

Google responds to Play Store antitrust lawsuit, and makes some good points

The response was issued by Wilson White, Google’s Senior Director of Public Policy. He does make some good points in his response. The lawsuit says Google is using “anticompetitive tactics” in order to “diminish and disincentivize competition in Android app distribution”.

It basically says that Google doesn’t really give developers a “reasonable choice” but to distribute their application through Google’s very own app store aka Play Store. That’s only a part of the lawsuit, you can read more about it here.

Wilson White begs to differ, though. He says that Google “built Android to create more choices in mobile technology. Today, anyone, including our competitors, can customize and build devices with the Android operating system — for free”.

He also added that the Play Store only helps people download apps on their devices. He also added that users have a choice of downloading apps from a rival app store, or directly from a developer’s website.

Mr. White said that Google “doesn’t impose the same restrictions as other mobile operating systems do”, which is true. He added that he finds it strange that so many state attorneys general decided to issue a lawsuit “attacking a system that provides more openness and choice than others”.

Stiff competition from Apple has been highlighted

He went onto saying that Google faces stiff competition from Apple. He said: “The complaint limits its definition of the app marketplace to Android devices only. This completely ignores the competition we face from other platforms such as Apple’s incredibly successful app store.”

Mr. White also highlighted that Google doesn’t prevent handset makers from pre-installing other app stores on their devices, alongside Google Play, while he also touched upon sideloading apps, which is also something that makes Android stand out.

On top of everything, Google’s Senior Director of Public Policy added that developers are not forced to use Google Play. He said that they’re free to distribute their apps directly to users, or via competing app stores.

The post Google Responds To Play Store Lawsuit, Makes Some Good Points appeared first on Android Headlines.