18 July 2018 – Today the European Commission announced its long awaited verdict on the Google Android antitrust case, leading to a record fine of  €4, 34 billion.  

According to the European DIGITAL SME Alliance the Google decision will encourage competition for apps and services.

“Our hope is that the European Commission decision in the Google Android case will help break open Google’s monopoly for the benefit of independent app developers,” said aid Oliver Grün, president of the European DIGITAL SME Alliance. This decision is a bright example on how the EU can set rules and enforce them on companies, no matter their size and global scope. Europe’s companies strive for a leading position in the global digital economy and they are under threat from competitors that do not play by the same rules.

The European DIGITAL SME Alliance, joined the case as interested third party. Its intervention aimed to ensure that SME app developers can benefit from an open and fully competitive Android ecosystem. You can read the European DIGITAL SME Alliance’s comments on the case here

“Google’s Play Store is the gatekeeper for apps. The absence of competing app stores allows Google to impose unfair terms and conditions to app developers who want to sell their apps on Android devices,” said Grün.

“Google can demand a higher cut of the selling price from app developers than it could if there were competing app stores. Another advantage for Google – and a disadvantage for everyone else – is that Google has access to data generated by using apps, among them the location of the user. This gives Google huge scale in scooping up data and building new digital business models. Last but not least Google can include its own new apps in the constrained app bundles and, thus, reach billions of smartphones” he stated.

The European DIGITAL SME Alliance will analyse in detail the Commission decision and will issue a statement in the coming days.