Following closely on the similar decision in Epic v Apple, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has rejected Google's appeal. Is this the end of the monopoly of the app stores?

 The sad fact is that the matter is still undecided. Despite setbacks, both Apple and Google are still pursuing their legal fights to hold on to their lucrative monopolies.

The law in the US does seem to be a case of "keep appealing if you don't like the verdict". Google can take the case to the full 9th Circuit and ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court. So we still have to wait to see how it all turns out. 

While we have tended to concentrate on the Epic v Apple situation, simply because the App store and the iPhone ecosystem is much more locked down that the corresponding Google ecosystem, this is still important news. The situation is also different because, while Google make significant amounts of money from its app store, it doesn't make the hardware in the same way that Apple does and in principle Android is open source. This makes Google slightly less distasteful, but it's still a monopoly when it comes to Android apps. It may operate a more subtle monopoly than Apple, but it seems to be learning fast.

"The jury also found that Google violated both federal and California antitrust law by willfully acquiring or maintaining monopoly power in those markets, unreasonably restraining trade, and unlawfully tying use of the Play Store to Google Play Billing"

The appeal found that the original verdict and proceedings were correct and proper.

I can't help but quote from the Opinion delivered by Judge McKeown:

"In the world of adrenaline-fueled survival that epitomizes the video game Fortnite, winners are decided in blazes of destruction and glory. By contrast, the outcome of this case—centered on Fortnite’s developer, Epic Games, and the Google Android platform—turns on longstanding principles of trial procedure, antitrust, and injunctive remedies"

It seems she knows both the tedium of the law and the joy of Fortnite. As to the argument that Google isn't a monopoly because you can side load Android apps "very easily":

"Efforts to download Fortnite illustrate the practical import of barriers erected by Google. Android users had to successfully navigate more than 15 steps to complete a direct download of Fortnite. Such “friction” “degrad[ed] the quality of the download experience” from websites like Epic’s. Epic found that, of the Android users who initiated the process to download Fortnite directly, 35% abandoned the process after encountering Google’s “warning messages.”"

We really should thank Tim Sweeny for all of the effort and lost revenue his company has put into the fight. He should be a programmer hero - unless of course you are one of the glorious few making big bucks for yourself and Google or Apple. His comment:

"Thanks to the verdict, the Epic Games Store for Android will be coming to the Google Play Store!"

More Information

Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation

Related Articles

 Apple Lets Fortnite Back In The App Store

The End Of The App Store

Apple Wins Either Way

Apple Appeals To Supreme Court In Epic Case

Apple Wins Appeal Against Epic

Epic v Apple - Both Sides Lose But It's A Win For Developers

Epic Games V Apple & Google - Smash The App Stores

Epic Games Takes On Apple - Unintended Consequences

Epic Games CEO Finally Notices That UWP Apps Are A Walled Garden

To be informed about new articles on I Programmer, sign up for our weekly newsletter, subscribe to the RSS feed and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin.

Comments

Make a Comment or View Existing Comments Using Disqus

or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info