Since its launch in 2007, Android has become the dominant mobile device operating system worldwide. In light of this commercial success and certain disputed business practices, Android has come under substantial attention from competition authorities. In a paper Damien Geradin and I posted this week, we present key aspects of Google’s strategy in mobile, focusing on Android-related practices that may have exclusionary effects. We then assess Google’s practices under competition law and, where appropriate, suggest remedies to right the violations we uncover.
Many of Google’s key practices in mobile are implemented through Mobile Application Distribution Agreements, confidential contracts that became available to the public through Oracle litigation and are available, to this day, only on my site. But we also evaluate Google restrictions embodied in other documents including Google’s Anti-Fragmentation Agreement as well as supplemental contracts with device manufacturers and mobile carriers providing for exclusive preinstallation of Google search.
If one accepts our conclusion that certain Google practices violate competition laws, it’s important to turn to the question of remedies–what changes Google must make. The natural starting point is to end Google’s contractual ties, allowing device manufacturers to install Google apps in whatever configurations they find convenient and in whatever way they believe the market will value. One might expect to see low-cost devices that feature Yahoo Search, MapQuest maps, and other apps that vendors are willing to pay to distribute. Other developers would retain a “pure Google” experience, foregoing such payments from competing app makers but offering apps from a single vendor, which some users may prefer.
Beyond that, remedies might seek to affirmatively restore competition. Because much of Google’s dominance in mobile seems to come from its powerful app store, Google Play, an intervention might seek to shore up other app stores–for example, letting them copy in Google’s APK’s so that they can offer Google apps to users who so choose. A full remedy would also attempt to restore competition for key apps. Just as Europe previously required Microsoft to show a screen promoting five different web browsers when a user booted Windows for the first time, a similar screen could provide users with a genuine choice of Android apps in each area where Google has favored its own offering. We suspect some users would favor a more privacy-protecting location service if that were prominent and easily available. Other users would probably find competing local services, such as TripAdvisor and Yelp, more trustworthy than Google’s offerings. These developments would increase choices for both users and advertisers, reduce the sphere of Google’s dominance, and begin to restore a competitive marketplace in fundamental mobile apps.
Our working paper:
Android and Competition Law: Exploring and Assessing Google’s Practices in Mobile
(Updated October 26, 2016: This article, as revised, is forthcoming in the European Competition Journal.)