Startups in India cheered a decision by the Supreme
Court on Thursday 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 in October to make a series of changes, such as refraining
from agreements that ensure exclusivity of its search services and mandatory
pre-installation of its apps. It also told Google to allow third-party app
stores to be housed within its Play Store.
In a major setback for the Alphabet Inc unit, the Supreme
Court of India on Thursday declined Google's request to block the antitrust
directives, which the company says would hurt consumers and stall growth of the
Android ecosystem in India. Google now needs to comply within seven days.
Rohan Verma, CEO of maps service MapmyIndia which
launched an app in 2004, told Reuters his app had not gained market share over
the years because the Google Maps app was pre-installed on many Android phones.
The CCI order states Google can't impose
such requirements now.
"We are elated," said Verma. "There was
negative impact over the years, we hope now consumers and device makers use our
app more."
About 97% of 600 million smartphone devices in India
run on Android, according to Counterpoint Research estimates. Apple has just a
3% share.
Google licenses the Android system to smartphone
makers, saying it provides more choice for everyone and agreements it strikes -
which critics say are anti-competitive - help keep the operating system free
and open-source.
Calling the ruling a "watershed moment",
Rakesh Deshmukh, CEO of Indus OS, which runs a rival app store to Google's,
said allowing other app stores within the U.S. firm's Play Store in India would
give consumers more choice and promote use of apps.
Naval Chopra, a lawyer at India's Shardul Amarchand
Mangaldas, which has challenged Google in courts in the past, said Thursday's
court decision was a landmark one.
"This is a landmark decision in the history of competition law in
India and globally," he said, adding the CCI directives "may
well lead to a new Indian competitor in video hosting, mapping, web browsers
or, dare we say it, search."