App stores from the stables of IndusOS, its parent PhonePe and Epic Games may be forced to go back to the drawing board as they were banking on a favourable verdict against Google in order to bring in more traction for their own stores.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in March had upheld a fine imposed on Google by the Competition Commission of India, but set aside four of the antitrust watchdog’s 10 directions to the Internet giant, including the need for it to permit hosting of third-party app stores within its Play Store.
The order has got alternative app store providers concerned as they may not be able to compete with Play Store, especially in a large market like India where the Google app store enjoys a significant presence.
Describing the NCLAT verdict as a “setback” and “disappointment”, legal experts and industry executives said app store providers are going to reassess how to navigate the fight against Google. Some called the verdict as a “partial victory” for Google. “It is indeed a setback for players and app developers (such as IndusOS and Epic Games) which have or intend to launch Android app stores in competition with Google’s Play Store,” said Sonam Mathur, partner at Talwar Thakore & Associates. “Such impacted players would have had the ease of distributing their app stores seamlessly” had the appellate body upheld all the CCI directions, Mathur said.
Fintech company PhonePe last year acquired IndusOS’ parent OSLabs — a mobile platform that enables content and app discovery for users and app developers.
The homegrown app discovery platform is competing with the likes of Google. CCI in its order stated that Google should not be allowed to license its Play Store on condition that device manufacturers pre-install Google apps such as YouTube, Gmail or the Chrome browser. It must also not force device makers to pre-install a bouquet of apps or decide their placement.
While the app store market has been dominated by the two US-based tech giants, Indian founders and other tech ecosystem players have been keen on building ‘Made-in-India’ play stores to combat the Duopoly.
Reports emerged last week that PhonePe itself was preparing to launch a dedicated app store for Android users in India, in the latest product push from the Walmart-backed firm. Epic Games, the developer of the popular online video game ‘Fortnite’ and operator of the Epic Games Store, had approached the NCLAT in February this year alleging continued violation of CCI’s directions by Google in the Android matter.
Epic Games is also locked in a legal battle with Google in US courts over allegation of anticompetitive practices by the tech giant. In its application before the NCLAT, Epic Games sought to be included as a respondent in Google appeal’s against CCI’s order.
Source: The Economic Times