Indian Startups Welcome the Supreme Court Decision, Now They Can Compete with Google on Android

JAKARTA - Startups in India have welcomed the Supreme Court's decision on Thursday January 19 to enforce an antitrust order that forced Google to change the way it runs its popular Android platform. They say the decision will open up the market for Android rivals and increase competition in the smartphone market.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered Google last October to make a series of changes, such as refraining from agreements ensuring the exclusivity of its search service and mandatory pre-installation of its apps. The decision also notifies Google to allow third-party app stores to be placed within its Play Store.

In a major setback for the Alphabet Inc unit, India's Supreme Court last Thursday rejected Google's request to block an antitrust directive, which the company said would harm consumers and hinder the growth of India's Android ecosystem. Google now has to comply within seven days.

Rohan Verma, CEO of map service MapmyIndia which launched the app in 2004, told Reuters his app had not gained market share in years because the Google Maps app came pre-installed on many Android phones.

The CCI order states that Google cannot enforce such terms now.

"We are very excited," said Verma. "There has been a negative impact over the years, we hope now that consumers and device makers are using our app more often."

According to Counterpoint Research estimates, roughly 97% of India's 600 million smartphone devices run on Android. While Apple only has a 3% share.

Google licensed the Android system to smartphone makers, saying it gave more choices for everyone and the deals it struck, which anti-competitive critics say, helped keep the operating system free and continued to be open source.

Calling the ruling a "defining moment", Rakesh Deshmukh, CEO of Indus OS, which runs rival app store Google, said allowing another app store within the US company's Play Store in India would give consumers more choice and promote app usage.

Naval Chopra, a lawyer at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas India, who has challenged Google in court 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 directive might lead to new Indian competitors in video hosting, mapping, web browsers or, even search engines.