Google is willing to deal with the EU on Android app distribution

The main outcome we anticipate from the EU’s demands that Google loosens their restrictions on Android OEMs is that they would make it easier to access the Google Play Store, with has more than 1 million apps, without distributing Google’s other applications and services.

Now Bloomberg reports that Google has been willing to deal with the EU as recently as 2017, including “distributing apps in two different ways going forward.” Google also offered to loosen restrictions on OEMs but did not go into details with its proposals.

The EU Competition Commission, in the end, did not want to deal with Google until their prosecution concluded, but will still be demanding similar and even more changes going forward. This opens up the possibility of more tech companies such as Microsoft offering smartphone hardware with their own services baked in, and increasing competition while not rendering their phones unattractive due to limited access to Android apps.

Google has said they would appeal the EU judgement, but it seems unlikely that the company will succeed against a Competition Commission hell bent on levelling the playing field.