The EU has fined Google with a $5.04 billion for forcing its apps on Android manufacturers. To put it in simple words, EU wants Google to unbundle its Chrome and Search app from Android phones, but this might have implication in the future of free-Android business model. Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a response to EU’s $5 billion fine, claims that users install an average of 50 apps themselves and also gives the ability to remove the pre-installed app any time they wish.
The vast majority of the free-Android model is dependant on the app bundling and preventing it from bundling its own apps, will upset the Android ecosystem. In a blog post, Google CEO, Sundar Pichai said: “If phone makers and mobile network operators couldn’t include our apps on their wide range of devices, it would upset the balance of the Android ecosystem. So far, the Android business model has meant that we haven’t had to charge phone makers for our technology or depend on a tightly controlled distribution model. ”
On the other hand, EU made no suggestions on how Google should solve its app bundling violations. But if the phone makers were given the chance to bundle their browser instead of Chrome and point search queries toward rivals, it would have implications on Google’s mobile ad revenue, which makes up for more than 50% of the company’s digital revenue.
Google is also warning that the Android business model might change as it in a way indicates that it might start to considering licensing Android OS to phone makers. Even if Google Chrome being unbundled from mobile phones as the default browser, we’re pretty sure users would turn to it by installing manually from the Play Store given the Google’s dominance in search and information it packs. So, it in a way, the new blog post by the CEO looks more like a move to smartly trick the EU, rather than a genuine threat to the Android business model.