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Google does not live up to the decision of the European Antitrust Authority which has awarded a fine of 4.3 billion euros for the dominant position of the company. Android. After announcing immediately that the company would appeal, Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, wanted to say his, pointing out how Android has created more choices and no less like, think rather the European Commission. In his speech, Sundar Pichai immediately points out that the decision does not take into account the fact that Android smartphones are competing with iOS devices, as confirmed by 89% of those who responded to the market survey conducted by the Commission itself.
Also, according to Google's CEO, the European Commission would not even have considered how much the choice is able to offer Android. Today, in fact, there are more than 24,000 devices in all price ranges and more than 1,300 different brands and manufacturers. All these devices are very different from each other with one thing in common, namely the ability to run the ecosystem of Android applications using simple technical rules. However, continues Sundar Pichai, the producers can decide not to follow these rules and to modify Android as they wish. Consider, for example, Amazon with its tablets and TVs in the Fire series.
![Android Broadcast](https://d1omyfwermimi7.cloudfront.net/uploads/2018/07/ndroid-web.jpg)
Android Broadcast (image: Google).
Open source platforms only work well by balancing the needs of everyone who uses them. The story shows that without clear rules on basic compatibility, open source platforms may fragment, hurting developers, users, and phone makers. The Android compatibility rules prevent this and make it an interesting long-term solution for anybody.
Sundar Pichai continues his response to the European Commission claiming that an Android smartphone can have 40 pre-installed applications, application from different developers and not just from the company from which the terminal was purchased. Users can however at any time delete the application and choose others in their place by drawing on the Play Store. For example, last year, browsers like Opera Mini and Firefox were downloaded more than 100 million times, while the UC browser was downloaded over 500 million times.
This is a very different scenario from the past, as in the 90s and early 2000s, when the evolution of computer programs was a difficult and complex undertaking. According to the Google CEO, the decision of the European Commission does not take into account the great possibilities of consumer choice using Android smartphones
In 2007, we decided to offer Android free of charge to phone manufacturers and to network operators. Of course, the development of Android has a cost and Google has invested billions of dollars over the last decade to make Android what it is today. This investment makes sense because we can offer phone manufacturers the ability to pre-load a suite of popular Google applications (such as Search, Chrome, Play, Maps and Gmail), some of which generate revenue for us, but all together Make sure the phone is fully functional as soon as people remove it from the box after you have purchased it. Phone manufacturers are not obliged to include our services and are also free to pre-install other competing applications, as well as ours. This means that we only make money if our applications are installed and if people choose to use our applications rather than compete.
Aim free distribution of Android has been beneficial to end users. If it was no longer possible to install native apps on Android, this choice would have a negative impact on the durability of Android. Thanks to the current business model, Google is sure not to charge the license for the use of its operating system.
Sundar Pichai, finally, worries that the decision of the European Antitrust Authority may call into question the delicate balance of Android.
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