Google ordered to make rival app stores easier to install
What's the story
A US judge has ordered tech giant Google to simplify the process of installing rival app stores on its Android operating system. The ruling came during a court hearing between Epic Games and Google over Android app distribution. The decision is part of a larger effort to dismantle Google's illegal monopoly over Android apps, which was established by a jury nearly three years ago.
Court order
'Still making it too difficult to install rival app stores'
Judge James Donato, who presided over the case, had previously ordered Google to allow rival Android app stores within its own Play Store.
He also directed the company to give competitors full access to its entire catalog of apps for several years.
However, Epic Games argued that Google was still making it too difficult to install rival app stores on Android devices.
Installation challenges
Judge highlights unnecessary steps in installation process
During the court hearing, Epic's lawyer Yonatan Even demonstrated how many steps it takes to install a rival app store on an Android device.
Judge Donato agreed with the argument and called some of those steps unnecessary "anticompetitive friction."
He then ordered Google to remove them from the process, highlighting that users shouldn't have to press a "view" button before they can press an "install" button when choosing to install a third-party app store.
Search issues
Search results on Play Store also came under scrutiny
Judge Donato also expressed his concerns over search results on Google's Play Store.
He was surprised that searching for "store for apps" didn't show any third-party app stores, only physical stores like Walmart.
The judge called this "not acceptable" and ordered Google to fix it by including every possible variation of the term in its search results.
Urgent action
Judge orders Google to fix search result issue as well
Judge Donato also took issue with Google's practice of showing a new banner when users search for "app store" or directly search for Aptoide, the first rival store to make it into the Google Play Store.
He ordered Google to fix this as well, saying that there was no reason why it shouldn't show results like "are you looking for music" when you type in 'music store.'