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Google will set up new voting screens for searches and browsers in Android in the European Union in the coming weeks, announced the search giant. The amendments aim to comply with a 2018 European Commission decision that declared Google guilty of abusing its monopoly power.
"We are going to start introducing new screens to Android users in Europe with an option to download search applications and browsers," says Paul Gennai of Google. "These new screens will be displayed the first time a user opens Google Play after receiving an upcoming update."
There will be two different screens, one for search and one for the web browser. Each will contain five choices in total, just like the browser screen with vote (browser choice) that Microsoft added to Windows in the early 2000s because of similar antitrust charges in the EU. Applications will be listed by popularity and displayed in random order, but apps already installed (including, yes, Google's own apps) will be displayed at the top.
"Users can press to install as many applications as they want," says Gennai. "If an additional search application or browser is installed, an additional screen will appear with instructions on setting up the new application (for example, placing application icons and widgets or setting values by default). When a user downloads a search application from the screen, we will also ask them if they want to change Chrome's default search engine the next time it opens. "
Google says these changes will apply to new and existing Android phones in Europe in the coming weeks. The implementation will also evolve based on feedback, and if I know the EU as I think, they will ask Google not to give its pre-installed applications preferential treatment on these screens.
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