Startups hail win in India as Supreme Court upholds Google antitrust order

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Startups hail win in India as Supreme Court upholds Google antitrust order

NEW DELHI Reuters - Startups in India cheered on Thursday a decision by the Supreme Court to uphold an antitrust order that forces Google to change how it runs its popular Android platform, saying the ruling would open the market for rivals and boost competition.

The Competition Commission of India CCI ordered Google to make a series of changes, including removing agreements that ensure exclusivity of its search services and pre-installation of its apps. It also told Google to allow third-party app stores to be housed within its Play Store.

The Supreme Court of India has declined Google's request to block antitrust directives, which the company says will hurt consumers and stall growth of the Android ecosystem in India, as a result of a major setback for the Alphabet Inc unit. Google has to comply within seven days.

Rohan Verma, CEO of MapmyIndia, said in 2004 that the app had not gained market share because of the Google Maps app, which was pre-installed on many Android phones.

The CCI order states that Google can't impose such requirements now.

Verma said we are elated. There was a negative impact over the years, we hope consumers and device makers will use our app more. According to Counterpoint Research, about 97% of the 600 million smartphone devices in India run on Android. Apple has only a 3% share.

Google licenses the Android system to smartphone makers, saying it provides more choice for everyone and agreements it strikes, which are critics say are anti-competitive and help keep the operating system free and open-source.

The ruling was a watershed moment, said Rakesh Deshmukh, CEO of Indus OS, which runs a rival app store to Google, said allowing other app stores within the U.S. firm's Play Store in India would give consumers more choice and promote the use of apps.

Naval Chopra, a lawyer at India's Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, which has challenged Google in the past, said Thursday's court decision was a landmark.

He said that the CCI directives could lead to a new Indian competitor in video hosting, mapping, web browsers or, dare we say it, search, and that this is a landmark decision in the history of competition law in India and globally.