India gets Google to unbundle Android and the Play Store on Smart TVs

Meanwhile, OpenAI expresses an interest in unbundling Chrome from Google

Google has agreed to unbundle its Play Store and Android operating system in India, but only on smart TVs, and will also cough up a $2.4 million fine after being found to have breached competition law.

The search and ads giant decided on the above actions to end a matter that began in 2021 when India’s Competition Commission launched an investigation into the legality of Google licensing practices that required smart TV makers who wanted to base their products on Android to pre-install the Play Store and tie it to YouTube.

The Commission eventually found that Google has a dominant market position in operating systems and app stores for Smart TVs and that its licensing practices therefore breached local competition law by forcing hardware manufacturers to install Android and the Play Store or not be allowed to use either. Google’s practise of preventing television manufacturers using Android forks also ran counter to local law.

Google eventually decided to settle the matter and a Tuesday announcement and order from the Competition Commission reveals the search giant will provide a standalone license for the Play Store and Play Services for Android smart TVs in India. The company will also pay a settlement of INR 20.24 crore – about $2.4 million.

The settlement means manufacturers of Smart TVs sold in India can create devices that run Android but don’t include the Play Store or other Google apps. Another change flowing from the settlement allows TV manufacturers to ship Smart TVs running Android forks into India without Google demanding they sign up for its other licenses.

Google has already unbundled Android and its Search and Chrome apps to comply with European law and may have to do the same in Japan after local regulators last week ordered the American web colossus to stop doing deals that require manufacturers of Android handsets to include its apps.

Unbundling other parts of the Google empire is currently also being discussed in two US courts, after findings that the company monopolizes AdTech and the search market.

The latter case has reached the stage of considering remedies, one of which could be a forced sale of the Chrome browser.

Readers who imagined such a sale could result in fewer sprawling Big Tech companies may be disappointed to read reports that during a Monday court hearing a senior OpenAI exec said the company would be interested in acquiring Chrome if Google is forced to sell it.

Should such a transaction occur the world would swap one giant company that combines AI, search, and a browser for another.

Just how that would improve competition is anyone’s guess. ®