As many of you have probably already heard, Google has been ordered to allow third-party app stores in the Play Store. The news landed yesterday when Judge Donato ruled in Epic’s favor. Soon after that, Google announced that it will appeal the rival Android app stores ruling.
Google announces that it will appeal the rival Android app stores ruling
The company actually published a blog post titled “Why we’re appealing the Epic Games verdict”. In it, the company explained why that will happen. Google said the following “We are appealing that underlying decision and we will ask the courts to pause Epic’s requested changes, pending that appeal”.
Google then went on to explain why is the appeal incoming. It split its reasoning in three parts, basically. The first part mentions that Google and Apple compete directly for consumers.
Google says that this ruling “rests on a flawed finding that Android is a market in itself”. Android and iOS compete in the same market. Google says that much is more than obvious. The company added that people choose between Android-based phones from various OEMs based on price, quality, and security.
The company was clear to emphasize that it competes with Apple for app developers
The second entry in Google’s blog post says that Google and Apple also compete directly for app developers. Google mentioned that this ruling ignores “what every developer in the world knows — they have to prioritize investing in developing for iPhones and Androids”.
Google wants developers to offer their best features on Android and release them on Android first, naturally. Therefore, Google builds tools, runs training programs, and invests in making it as easy as possible to develop for Android. Apple does the same, so it can compete directly for developers.
The third entry says that “Android is open and Google Play is not the only way to get apps”. Google once again criticizes the ruling, by saying that it fails to take into account that Android is an open platform. The company added that developers have always had many options as to how to distribute their apps, the Play Store is not the only one.
Google added that most Android devices come preloaded with two or more app stores
Google also added that most Android devices come preloaded with two or more app stores. The company also said that developers can even offer their apps directly to users from websites, nothing is stopping them.
Google also used Epic Games’ Fortnite as an example, by mentioning that Epic Games made it available through the Samsung Galaxy Store and the Epic Games Store. All that while the game was not available via the Google Play Store. Google mentioned that all of these are options that developers have not been able to offer to their American users on iPhones.
To conclude what was stated, Google said the following: “Android has helped expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps. The initial decision and today’s Epic-requested changes put that at risk and undercut Android’s ability to compete with Apple’s iOS”.
