Korea Fair Trade Commission Charged Google for Blocking Android Customisation

The South Korea’s antitrust regulator Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has fined the technology giant Google with an amount of 207 billion as Google blocked the modified versions of Android operating system. This has resulted into a major setback to the US’s tech giant. The charges imposed by South Korea now become major second setback for Google in less than a month.

The South Korea’s department said that the Google’s blocking for the Android customization services restricted competition in the mobile OS market.However, Google has opposed to the departments’ claims and said that the department overlooked the advantages provided by Android. Most importantly, the ruling ignores the benefits provided to the customers.

The fine imposed by the department came into effect as soon as the department imposed an anti-Google law.Now, under the anti-Google law, the app store operators like Google which seeks require developers use their payment system will be banned.KFTC blamed Google that it hampered competition in the operating system market by making developers by agreeing to the anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA) while signing important contracts related to the app store licence purchases.

The anti-fragmentation agreement states that manufactures cannot use equip their handsets with customized versions of Android. The KFTC blamed Google that this has helped Google dominate the world mobile operating system market.The regulator said it is the ninth biggest fine it has imposed on any firm until now.In 2013, Samsung Electronics had launched a smartwatch that was equipped with a modified version of Android but it later incorporated another OS in the Smartwatch after Google claimed the move as an AFA violation.