We have been warning about this for a while. Google pays and coerces (through its other products) device manufacturers to use only Google Play, pays developers not to publish or launch their own stores or payment methods, removes third-party stores like Uptodown from its ecosystem (its policies explicitly prohibit app stores or any app that installs APKs), imposes technical obstacles through its operating system (Android 14), abusively uses permissions at multiple levels to hinder the proper use of any alternatives, includes warnings to generate fear, imposes artificial barriers at the user experience level, publishes false information about security through its marketing machinery, indiscriminately blocks those who attempt to compete in products that control 90% of the market (such as admob, monetization and payment systems, searches)… among many other actions that we have been tired of denouncing for years with the sole purpose of limiting competition and stopping innovation in the free distribution of mobile applications. This is just a small sample of everything that has been demonstrated in various processes where information has been declassified (you can check the entries on this site for references). It’s a miracle we are still here.
What has changed? Until now, this was just a tantrum from sites like Uptodown, but today, it is a verdict issued unanimously by a jury in the United States. For us, due to our size and limited resources, it is impossible to initiate a lawsuit of this kind, but Epic – and later, we hope Europe – has dared to ask for explanations.
It is not a final judgment; Google has already stated it will appeal. It will not lead to immediate changes either; they have announced they will resist by all means to allow others to touch their most lucrative business (charging 30% commission on everything that happens on your mobile and controlling what you can consume based on their arbitrary policies). But it is a very important step forward in advancing the right of users to decide, in the freedom of distribution for developers, and in ensuring the necessary interoperability between devices and platforms, for which we have been fighting for years. So that you do not pay several times for the same product, that users are not kidnapped, and that they do not continue proclaiming themselves the sole guardians of information. Today is a historic day for the future of technology.
Here’s the completed verdict form:
@luishg 