Google criticises CMA’s strategic market designation for Android and Chrome

New Delhi: Google has expressed strong disagreement with the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision to designate its “Mobile Platform”,  including Android, Google Play, Chrome, and Blink,  as having strategic market status. The company described the move as “disappointing, disproportionate and unwarranted.”

In a statement, Google noted that the UK’s new digital markets regime was introduced with the promise of being “pro-growth and pro-innovation,” with CMA enforcement expected to be “highly targeted and proportionate.”

 “In this context, we simply do not see the rationale for today’s designation decision,” the company added.

Google highlighted that its platforms are designed to offer choice rather than restriction. The company said Android and Chrome are open-source, allowing anyone, including competitors, to customise devices freely. 

While Google Play provides a way to download apps, users can also access apps from other stores or directly from developers, a flexibility not available on some other mobile platforms.

Google also pointed to the competitive landscape, noting that there are 24,000 Android phone models from 1,300 manufacturers worldwide, competing with iOS in the UK. 

More than two-thirds of UK Android devices come with a non-Play app store, and users can access far more apps than on iOS. Non-Chrome browsers are installed on 70% of Android devices, and, as the CMA has recognised, Google does not use its position to favour Chrome.

Google also pointed to the economic and consumer impact of its mobile platform in the UK, stating that “Android generates over £9.9 billion in revenue for UK developers, supports over 457,000 UK jobs and gives customers a remarkable level of choice. Indeed, the CMA has itself found that 91% of UK consumers are ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their Android mobile devices.”

Following the CMA’s designation, Google warned that its mobile business in the UK will face a set of “new, and, as of yet, uncertain, rules,” adding that “the CMA’s next steps will be crucial if the UK’s digital markets regime is to meet its promise of being pro-growth and pro-innovation.”