Skip to content

Android may no longer be free anymore! Google CEO Sundar Pichai warns

    It sounds funny and weird at the same time, but you might soon have to pay for using Android operating system. Recently, Google was fined $5 billion by the EU for Android antitrust violations and it is one persistence warning that most companies don’t find amusing.

    Google now says it will appeal the decision. And clearly, Google CEO is sounding the warning to every Android phone users, Google warns Android might not remain free because of EU decision.

    European Union just want Google to remove, unbundle the Chrome and Search apps from Android, and Google said, it might have a unlikely effect on them, and may juxtapose the Android market future.

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai says “A typical Android user will “install around 50 apps themselves” and can easily remove preinstalled apps. But if Google is prevented from bundling its own apps, that will upset the Android ecosystem” As After all, Android P is drawing nigh and, the EU’s Google fine could change phones forever.

    We are all aware that Android is an open source software, which is free for everyone, customers and phone manufacturers, but if EU should press forward with this decision, then Android may no longer be free anymore. That is the message, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is trying to pass.

    What is in talk here is all about, an unfair advantage with it’s Search and Google Chrome apps, preventing competitors from creating modified versions of Android. That is what EU wants Google to focus on and pave the better response, as they are all considered illegal in EU’s constitution.

    google

    Google Blog posts reads;

    “So far, the Android business model has meant that we haven’t had to charge phone makers for our technology, or depend on a tightly controlled distribution model, But we are concerned that today’s decision will upset the careful balance that we have struck with Android” Pichai wrote.

    “In 2007, we chose to offer Android to phone makers and mobile network operators for free. Of course, there are costs involved in building Android, and Google has invested billions of dollars over the last decade to make Android what it is today.

    This investment makes sense for us because we can offer phone makers the option of pre-loading a suite of popular Google apps (such as Search, Chrome, Play, Maps and Gmail), some of which generate revenue for us, and all of which help ensure the phone ‘just works’, right out of the box. Phone makers don’t have to include our services; and they’re also free to pre-install competing apps alongside ours. This means that we earn revenue only if our apps are installed, and if people choose to use our apps instead of the rival apps.”

    Of course, customers (end-users) have the ability to remove any Google apps from their phones, but phone makers are required to show a little bit of commission by pre-installing the Google playstore app and other Android apps. If this works outs, then when starting up a new device, you might be asked a series of questions concerning your preferred app!