A federal court jury has decided that Google’s Android app store has been protected by anticompetitive barriers that have damaged smartphone consumers and software developers, dealing a blow to a major pillar of a technology empire.

The unanimous verdict reached Monday came after just three hours of deliberation following a four-week trial revolving around a lucrative payment system within Google’s Play store. The store is the main place where hundreds of millions of people around the world download and install apps that work on smartphones powered by Google’s Android software.

Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, filed a lawsuit against Google three years ago, alleging that the internet powerhouse has been abusing its power to shield its Play Store from competition in order to protect a gold mine that makes billions of dollars annually. Just as Apple does for its iPhone app store, Google collects a commission ranging from 15% to 30% on digital transactions completed within apps.

Apple prevailed in a similar case that Epic brought against the iPhone app store, but the 2021 trial was decided by a federal judge in a ruling that is under appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court.

But the nine-person jury in the Play store case apparently saw things through a different lens, even though Google technically allows Android apps to be downloaded from different stores — an option that Apple prohibits on the iPhone.

Just before the Play store trial started, Google sought to avoid having a jury determine the outcome, only to have its request rejected by U.S. District Judge James Donato. Now it will be up to Donato to determine what steps Google will have to take to unwind its illegal behavior in the Play Store. The judge indicated he will hold hearings on the issue during the second week of January.

  • Davel23
    14•10 months ago

    Oh yeah, that makes complete sense. Apple, who has a WAY more restrictive environment doesn’t have a monopoly, but Google does. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of Google, but I hate Epic even more.

    • @kaffieneEnglish
      -11•10 months ago

      Yeah. Epic giving away the best game engine in the world for free and funding game dev tools and open source is evil through and through.

      • @pivot_root
        14•10 months ago

        Free to try isn’t the same as free to use commercially. You could pick up the engine to experiment with and develop on for free, but they’ll come knocking for royalties when you try to publish your game or movie.

        It’s about as free as WinRAR or an Adobe trial, basically.

        • @kaffieneEnglish
          -2•10 months ago

          I’m quite aware of their royalty deals

      • @ZapBeebz_
        12•10 months ago

        They’re giving away things to get people to rely on those tools. As soon as they have a majority market share, they’ll start charging. It’s the same bullshit every company that provides a tool or service for free eventually does. They have to have money coming in to keep the lights on, so they run a huge loss and gamble that eventually they’ll make it big. Fuck Epic, and fuck monopolies.

        • @pivot_root
          5•10 months ago

          On a related note, fuck Adobe.

        • @kaffieneEnglish
          1•10 months ago

          Theyre a better corporate citizen than Unity. And those mega grants to open source aren’t about lock-in.