[Dismas]

While Android allows sideloading and alternative stores, 36 states are suing Google in an antitrust lawsuit. One must wonder why Google was targeted, rather than Apple.

More than 30 states are accusing Google of operating like an illegal monopoly by abusing the power it has over developers and eliminating competition in how people download and pay for apps on their Google devices.

"Google uses anticompetitive barriers and mandates to protect its monopoly power," the attorneys general wrote in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday.

The suit was brought by 36 states — including New York, California, Tennessee, and North Carolina and Utah — and the District of Columbia.

It is the latest government assault against the immense power wielded by Google amid a wave of legal and regulatory challenges rising against Big Tech in recent months.

Since last year, prosecutors in the Justice Department or state attorneys general have now filed four lawsuits against Google aimed at parts of its business empire alleged to be anticompetitive.

App store commissions — typically 30% — are charged to developers, who then usually pass the cost off to consumers who are buying apps or making purchases in things like mobile games.

The states' complaint zeroes in on Google's use of those fees, alleging that Google's anticompetitive policies have deprived profits from developers and raised prices on consumers.

Read More: https://www.npr.org/2021/07/07/101393464...play-store

[mothered]

abusing the power it has over developers and eliminating competition in how people download and pay for apps on their Google devices

Based on the above, litigation comes as no surprise.

It'll be Interesting to see If more states/entities follow suit.

[Accident Man]

I decipher why Google wants users to utilize their store and apps, but it is outlandish they would take it this far. The only reason they bought and maintain Android is that they did not optate to be at the clemency of Apple or Microsoft for how users probed on mobile devices. They make virtually all of their money on search and ads, which is why they give Android away. Everything outside search and ads is not a priority at Google, in my opinion, which is a sizably voluminous reason Wear OS has languished for so long.

So, again, it seems eccentric they would peregrinate to these lengths.