South Korea’s Antitrust Regulator Fines Google $177 Million for Abusing Mobile Market Dominance

South Korea’s competition regulator on Tuesday announced it will fine Google 207.4 billion Korean won ($176.9 million) for allegedly using its dominant market position in the mobile operating system space to stifle competition. From a report: Google’s Android operating system currently holds the lion’s share of the smartphone market, ahead of Apple’s iOS platform. The U.S. tech giant allegedly used its market position to block smartphone makers like Samsung from using operating systems developed by rivals, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission. Yonhap News added that the regulator, which published its decision in Korean, said the tech giant required smartphone makers to agree to an “anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA)” when signing key contracts with Google over app store licenses and early access to the operating system. That agreement prevented device makers from installing modified versions of the Android operating system, known as “Android forks,” on their handsets, Yonhap reported. The regulator alleged that Google’s practice stifled innovation in the development of new operating systems for smartphones, the news site added. The KFTC has asked the tech giant to stop forcing companies to sign AFAs and ordered it to take corrective steps, according to Yonhap.

Source News

Next Post

Grocery Startup Weezy Said to Work With Evercore to Assess Sale

Tue Sep 14 , 2021
(Bloomberg) — U.K. rapid grocery company Weezy is working with investment bank Evercore Inc. to explore a potential sale of its business, according to people familiar with the matter, becoming the latest startup to consider the option as a means of coping with the industry’s intense competition and high costs. […]

You May Like