India is one of Google’s biggest markets, with 97% of over 600 million smartphones in the country running on Android OS. For reference, just 75% of all 550 million smartphones in Europe run on Android.

On January 25, Google stated that it would let Indian Smartphone manufacturers license selective applications for pre-installation. Additionally, the company will also let users set their preferred search engine as the default one. This is a major change considering Google has been the default search engine on every Android smartphone since forever. 

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Google’s recent decisions can be attributed to the Indian Supreme Court’s statement from last week, where the court stated that Google is abusing its standing in the Indian market. The Supreme Court is the highest authority of power in the country, and receiving a ruling from the same forced Google to announce these changes. This will radically change the company’s marketing strategies in India, especially how Google operates in the Indian market, a sector which holds a lot of growth potential.

Here are the major changes for Google in India

  • OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) now be able to license individual Google apps for pre-installation on their smartphones
  • New users will be prompted to choose their default search engine when they set up their devices.
  • The Android compatibility requirements will be modified so that Google partners can build non-compatible or forked variants.
  • Users can purchase in-app digital content through choice billing, which will allow them to pick between Google Play’s billing system or an alternative of their own choice.
  • The way applications are sideloaded onto Android devices has been changed to minimize security risks. This would include applications downloaded directly from developers’ websites.
  • The company will expand their online help resources to include details of Google Play Services and the application of their service fees.

Google further stated in its blog post that implementation of all these changes would be a tedious task for the company, since Google has a massive ecosystem of its own. It also stated that the company would require a lot of coordinated effort from various OEMs and developers in order to make these changes possible. 

The Indian Government has been quite strict with Google in terms of market positioning and strategies. Back in October, Google was fined $161 Million (Rs. 1337.76 crores) for having restrictions on device manufacturers pertaining to the pre-installation of applications and search engine exclusivity. Google had hoped to block the implementation of these directives by CCI (Competition Commission of India), emphasizing that it would have to amend arrangements with more than 1100 device makers across the country.

Unfortunately, as mentioned previously, the Supreme Court of India refused to comply with Google at all. 

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