Epic Games Proposes Google App Store Reforms After Antitrust Win

Epic Games, the maker of the popular "Fortnite" video game, has urged a U.S. judge to compel Google to open up its Play Store to more competition following a jury verdict that found the tech giant had abused its power over Android app distribution.

In a court filing on Thursday [PDF], Epic proposed requiring Google to allow the distribution of competing third-party app stores on its platform for six years and limiting its ability to restrict preloading of competing app stores on devices. The move follows a December antitrust trial in which a jury found Google guilty of impeding developers' ability to distribute apps outside the Play Store and maintaining an overly tight grip on in-app transaction payments.

isn't that already possible?

[diffract]

I have F-droid and Aptoide installed on my phone, what do they mean by wanting to open Android to other app stores?

Re:

[backslashdot]

Lawyers utilize an alternate logic store than only has a small subset of facts so as not to overload the shot glass size lawyer-brain with a gallon of information.

Re:isn't that already possible?

[EvilSS]

In regard to the summary, they are asking for two things (they are asking for a lot more, I suggest reading the filing linked in the summary):

1) Allow distribution of 3rd party app stores via the play store (not side loading) for a period of 6 years.

2) Allow third party app stores to be pre-installed on Android phones if the app store owner and phone maker or carrier strike a deal to do so.

That last one was a big part of their lawsuit against Google: Google interfered and managed to kill a deal between Epic and OnePlus to include their app store on the device out of the box.

Re:

[SirSpanksALot]

That minimal usable system includes an app store. The argument here is that google shouldn't be able to say "only our app store is allowed"

Re:

[WarlockD]

Unfortunately you NEED the play store on an android phone. Without it its nearly impossible to side load any of googles apps. There are so many side library's and utility's you need even to just get the you tube app to work. Granted this is all in googles wheelhouse but its also a clear way to force a phone company to make it "play store" licensed. The operating system is free, but thats the only thing, you want google stuff, you pay.

Re:

[jenningsthecat]

Unfortunately you NEED the play store on an android phone. Without it its nearly impossible to side load any of googles apps. There are so many side library's and utility's you need even to just get the you tube app to work.

If you're going to use Google's apps, then there is no reason to not have the Play Store app installed - they're all spying on you, regardless of whether Play Store is installed. And if you're ditching Google altogether - as I have by installing LineageOS my Samsung phone - then you have zero need of the Play Store.

I've been quite happy with F-Droid, and with side-loading APK's that I either downloaded or copied from earlier phones I had. I use the Protonmail app for one email account, and the K-9 app for a

Re:

[thegarbz]

Well for 1) they can fuck off, no one is required to carry your product. But for 2) they not only had a solid case, Google already got hit by record fines in Europe for precisely this practice, and while I think Epic games are the worst thing to happen to PC gaming in the past decade, I'm actually with them on this, it's a huge antitrust issue.

Re: isn't that already possible?

[drinkypoo]

I would also like to see both Google and Apple burn, but I would also like to see the same thing for Epic, and also I have enough integrity to consider the arguments on their merits. This argument is about what is best for nation and citizens.

Re:

[EvilSS]

I agree with this. When people go "buh buh Apple" when looking at these two cases, I always go back to #2. Google went way over the line when they interfered with a business deal they were not a direct part of. They want to have the "we're open source!" cake but then maintain unreasonable control over the OEMs and they played it very dirty.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

Can your F-Droid download and install with one click like Play Store (without root)?

Can it install security updates for you (without root)?

Some people may not known that F-Droid can compete with Play Store but only if you're rooted to bypass anticompetitive restrictions Google places on users to ensure its market is dominant.

Regular users take risks by having to patch manually. Everybody already knows that rarely works so auto-updates are the industry standard.

Unfair application of law

[backslashdot]

Meanwhile, Apple gets away with much worse. How is that fair?

Re:

[DarkVader]

Oh, it isn't. But Apple did just get smacked down hard in Europe, and Europe isn't done with them yet because they're playing games instead of actually opening up the iDevices.

I still can't understand what was wrong with the idiot judge in the US who let Apple win a suit that they should have lost. But Apple's days of customer abuse are numbered. Oregon just banned parts pairing, the FTC is going after Apple's monopoly.

Re:

[tlhIngan]

Oh, it isn't. But Apple did just get smacked down hard in Europe, and Europe isn't done with them yet because they're playing games instead of actually opening up the iDevices.

I still can't understand what was wrong with the idiot judge in the US who let Apple win a suit that they should have lost. But Apple's days of customer abuse are numbered. Oregon just banned parts pairing, the FTC is going after Apple's monopoly.

Basically, Google sells (or really, licenses) a component that goes into a phone.

Apple se

Re:

[backslashdot]

You realize that that claiming something is whataboutism is whataboutism too right? Which means whataboutism is a valid concept. Trump is able to get millions of votes based on that. Anyway, I'm not saying Google should be let off the hook, I'm saying Apple should be prosecuted too.

Re:

[backslashdot]

People who say TDS are gay. Prove me wrong.

Re:

[thegarbz]

No they don't. There's a difference between dictating what can run on your hardware and what you tell other people must run on their hardware. The antitrust case centered around Google interfering with a 3rd party deals between Epic, Samsung, Oneplus and others, where Google demanded that the other companies don't carry / preload Epic software on their phones. That is an anti-trust issue.

Apple did nothing with 3rd parties because there are no 3rd parties to interfere with. That's not an anti-trust issue.

Thi

Re:

[laxguy]

and this proves that Epic's "issue" with Apple was never about the side loading or anything like that, Epic is simply trying to use the courts to bully other technology companies into situations they do not agree to.

Re: Unreal world

[gmiller123456]

No, they are not being sued for makeing a sucessful product. They are being sued for preventing others from making similar suceasful products. Ones that will likely provide more value to their customers.

Re:

[taustin]

How is it free if they collect a percentage of what you make off it?

Your logic has failed.

Re:

[thegarbz]

Where you can get sued for developing and releasing YOUR OWN free product

You can get sued for anything. But in this case the bigger problem is that you (specifically YOU) don't seem to have a clue about what was being sued over. You also don't seem to have a clue about the judgement against Google or why it was an antitrust violation.

Hint: It had nothing to do with creating your own product. It had nothing to do with taking a percentage of profit for the product (one which you claim was free, but I'll let that silliness slide).

Not only do you also allow any side loading of apps or stores but also pre loaded alternative app stores from other manufacturers too (Samsung for example).

What is really ironic for you is that the judgement

AFAF, I really don't know this one

[davesays]

I am typically a run wide open guy. Does enabling these allow a wholesale pollution of the android ecosystem via cross pollination below the app store level or something?