Google to charge Android users in Europe after being fined billions by EU

According to foreign media The Verge, Android manufacturers will need to pay licensing fees to Google in Europe to equip their devices with Google's Play Store and other mobile applications.

According to a confidential document, the cost of installing the "Google Mobile Services" application suite (including the Google Play Store) will be up to $40 per device. The new fee will vary depending on the country and device type. This clause applies to Android devices activated on or after February 1, 2019.

欧盟向来以反垄断法严厉著称，苹果、三星、英特尔、高通等巨头都吃过欧盟反垄断法的相关罚单。公开数据显示，2013年至今，欧盟已经因为反垄断法向多家企业罚款共计128.12亿欧元。只是，谷歌这次比较难受，相隔一年，吃了欧盟两张罚单，两张罚单还都创造了欧盟罚单的最高纪录，分别为24.2亿欧元、43.4亿欧元。

According to Google's 2017 public financial report, its full-year profit was $12.7 billion. The two fines total about $7.7 billion, which, if enforced, would eat up more than half of Google's profit in 2017.

In June 2017, the European Union issued a fine of 2.42 billion euros (about 2.7 billion US dollars) to Google. The reason given at the time was that Google abused its search market position and gave prominent recommendations for its own e-commerce shopping platform Google Shopping in its search engine, suspected of infringing on the fair competition rights of other service providers.

The EU said Google must treat other comparison shopping services fairly in its search results and that it must end the behavior within 90 days or face a fine of up to 5% of its average daily global revenue.

According to Leifeng.com, in response to this fine, Google submitted a draft in September 2017 on how Google should improve, including how to treat competitors equally to prevent further fines.

Of course, the EU has been investigating the "exclusivity" of Google's advertising business, and this 2.4 billion euro fine is only the first of three in-depth investigations by the EU against Google. The EU said at the time that it would continue to investigate Google on its Android mobile operating system and Adsense advertising service.

As expected, in July this year, the EU antitrust department determined that Google had abused its dominant position in the Android system market by bundling and installing "Google-related" applications including Chrome browser, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Search in the Android system, and issued a fine of 4.34 billion euros (about 5.04 billion U.S. dollars). At the same time, it also broke the record of the highest fine in the EU.

The European Commission said that Google abused its monopoly in the Android market in three ways:

• Bundle the Chrome browser app on Android;

• Restrict mobile phone manufacturers from developing their own versions of Android systems based on open source Android;

• Pay manufacturers and mobile operators to bundle devices with the Google Search app only.

According to Leifeng.com, the European Commission has asked Google to stop these practices within 90 days. This means that Google needs to stop requiring manufacturers to pre-install Chrome and Google Search apps before providing Google Play services, and can no longer restrict manufacturers from using modified versions of Android. Google "has not provided credible evidence to prove that the modified version of Android will cause technical problems and unsupported apps," the European Commission explained.

On the same day, Google said it would appeal the EU's decision. Google CEO Sundar Pichai published an article saying that due to the EU's decision, Android's free ecosystem may be broken.

The European Commission's fine against Android and its business model ignores the fact that Android phones compete with iOS phones, and how much choice Android provides to the thousands of phone manufacturers and mobile network operators who make and sell Android devices. In addition, there are millions of businesses around the world that make a living by developing Android apps; and billions of consumers use cheap Android phones.

When the two parties went to court in response to the fine issued by the EU, the court ruled that Google had stifled innovation by bundling search and Chrome in Android, and cut off more business opportunities for device manufacturers when they pre-installed browsers and search engines.

In response to the second fine, Google made relevant adjustments. Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president of platforms and ecosystems, said in a blog post on October 16 that Google has made adjustments in response to the EU's notification, and the new licensing options will take effect on October 29, 2018. The specific adjustments are as follows:

• First, Google is updating its compatibility agreements with mobile device makers, which dictate how Android can be used to develop smartphones and tablets.

• Second, device makers will be able to license the Google mobile app suite separately from the Google Search app or Chrome browser;

• Finally, Google will offer separate licenses for the Google Search app and Chrome. Google will offer new commercial agreements to partners for non-exclusive pre-installation and display of Google Search and Chrome. As before, competing apps can be pre-installed alongside Google apps.

Due to the revenue generated by Chrome and search, Google did not charge for Android and its applications before. This time, Google separated the Play Store and applications such as Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube, which were previously considered the core parts of Android, and will charge for them. This document also gives a relatively clear interpretation of the specific standards for this licensing fee.

According to foreign media reports, the document shows that the agreement reached between Google and EU manufacturers will be rated according to country and pixel density. EU countries are divided into three charging tiers, and the highest charging countries include the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands.

In the countries with the highest fees, devices with a pixel density of more than 500 ppi need to pay $40 to obtain a license for the Google App Suite; devices with a pixel density between 400 ppi and 500 ppi need to pay $20, and devices with a pixel density below 400 ppi only need to pay $10. In addition, in some countries, the licensing fee for low-end mobile phones will be as low as $2.5.

The pricing for tablets will not vary much, with each device costing $20. Some device manufacturers may negotiate prices with Google individually, but people familiar with the matter said the price will not differ much from the standard price.

The European Commission sees the breakup as a way to increase competition, which could lower costs in the long term or give consumers more choice.

However, Leifeng.com believes that this is obviously not good news for device manufacturers. In response to the relevant insider's revelation that "mobile phone manufacturers may not actually need to bear this cost: Google also provides separate agreements to pay part or all of the licensing fees for companies that choose to install Chrome and Google Search on their devices", Google declined to comment.

Google doesn't do evil, Amazon and Microsoft employees: neither should we

Leaving Google and returning to Stanford, the new move of "AI Goddess" Fei-Fei Li is revealed

Things Huawei didn’t tell you at the Mate 20 launch event