At Google, we have been fortunate to play a role in India’s adoption of technology to improve lives in three main ways: providing access to affordable devices, building useful and safe products to meet the evolving needs of Indian users, and partnering with the active developer community in India for growth and reaching a global audience.
Commitment to Local Laws and Regulations in India
We take our commitment to comply with local laws and regulations in India seriously. The recent guidelines from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) regarding Android and Play require us to make significant changes in India, and today we informed the CCI how we will comply with their directives.
Required Changes Under CCI Guidelines
We continue to respectfully protest some aspects of the CCI’s decisions and will defend our core principles of transparency, expanding user choice, and providing security and safety that serve the interests of the broader ecosystem.
However, we are making some required changes under the CCI guidelines. Implementing these changes in the ecosystem will be a complex process and will require significant work on our part and, in many cases, substantial efforts from partners, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and developers.
Main Changes We Will Make in Our Platforms and Operations in India
OEMs will be able to obtain licenses to install individual Google apps on their devices. Android users have always been able to customize their devices according to their preferences. Indian users will now have the option to choose their default search engine through a choice screen that will soon appear when a user sets up a new Android smartphone or tablet in India.
We are updating Android compatibility requirements to introduce changes that allow partners to build incompatible or alternative versions. All apps and games will be able to offer a user-selected billing option starting next month. With user-selected billing, developers can provide users with the option to choose an alternative billing system alongside Google Play’s billing system when purchasing in-app digital content.
Android has always supported the installation of apps from diverse sources, including direct installation from the developer’s site. We have recently made changes to the Android installation process and the automatic update capability for apps installed through direct installation and app stores, ensuring users understand the potential security risks. We are expanding our online resources such as help center articles and FAQs to provide more details about the services offered by Google Play and how and when Google Play service fees apply.
Our Commitment to Indian Users and the Country’s Digital Transformation
Our commitment to Indian users and the country’s digital transformation remains unwavering. Through Android, Google has significantly contributed to the mobile environment by granting OEMs unprecedented options and flexibility, providing developers with core compatibility that allowed them to expand their services across devices, and ensuring a secure and reliable platform for users in India and around the world.
This has helped local developers build successful businesses and reach a global audience for their apps and games, leading to a 150% increase in the time users spent outside of India in 2021 compared to 2019 on Google Play. We believe technology can help harness opportunities in key areas of the Indian economy and look forward to continuing to partner in this journey.
Source: https://blog.google/intl/en-in/updates-to-android-and-google-play-in-india/
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