According to the latest reports, in Epic’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, the latest uncensored part disclosed new details about the extent of Google’s damage to third-party app stores on the Android platform.
According to the new text, Google will start the Premier Device Program (the preferred device project) in 2019, which allows Android phone manufacturers to obtain a higher share of search revenue than normal.
In exchange, the original equipment manufacturer agreed to ship without pre-installing any third-party app stores. Specifically, they followed the rule of prohibiting applications with APK installation permissions that are not approved by Google, which makes the Play Store the only built-in digital software market.
As Leah Nylen pointed out, products that meet the Premier Device standard will receive 12% of Google’s search revenue, while under normal circumstances they can only receive an 8% share. Google provides companies such as LG and Motorola with greater discounts, providing them with 3% to 6% of the user’s consumption on the Google Play Store.
Epic’s lawyers wrote in the complaint: Google’s Premier Device Program is not well known. Epic was not aware of Google’s Premier Device Program until Google recently started providing relevant documents for this lawsuit. Google tried to cover up its most Restrictive anti-competitive behavior, including provisions in the agreement itself, restricting the signatory to not make any public statements about the agreement without the prior written approval of the other party.
The lawsuit also described the Premier Devices Program as a huge success, which further consolidated the dominant position of the Play Store. By May 2020, many of the world’s largest and most popular Android OEMs have agreed to Google Play’s exclusive ownership of most of their new Android devices.
Both Motorola and LG have invested almost all (98% and 95%) in the Premier project. %) Equipment. The Chinese giant Backgammon Group produces and sells a series of Android devices, including brands such as OPPO, Vivo and OnePlus. It has designated about 70% of its new devices as premier.
Other companies such as Sony and Xiaomi are relatively less invested in this project, with their respective proportions being 50% and 40%. However, Epic claimed in the complaint that the project effectively tilted towards third-party stores on Android.
Another public part of the lawsuit shows that people rarely leave the Play Store. Epic said that an internal Google report in 2017 found that in the United States, apps installed through channels other than Google Play (including direct downloads and competing app stores) accounted for only 4.4% of Android app downloads.
