Report: Google says amends breaches on preinstalled apps in Russia

MOSCOW, Nov 1 (PRIME) -- Google is fulfilling an order of the Russian antimonopoly service, which earlier found the company guilty of breaches on the mobile application market, fined it and threatened with a further pursuit in case of misconduct, business daily Vedomosti reported late on Monday on its Web site.

“We are working with the Federal Antimonopoly Service to comply with their ruling, and our product teams are elaborating technical details,” a representative for Google’s local office told the daily.

Google has already sent out notifications to all Russian users of Android smartphones on an option to add or delete applications “be it Google applications or applications of other developers,” the representative said.

Antitrust Service Director Igor Artemyev said that Google ignored the authority’s orders to allow users exploit not only its applications on Androids, and threatened to sue the company.

Google’s managers can face criminal responsibility for disrespect, he said then.

The antimonopoly service earlier found Google guilty of abusing its dominant position and forcing Android device manufacturers to install its application store, Google Play, in a tie-up with its other programs. The case was opened upon complaint by local Internet giant Yandex.

The antitrust watchdog slapped a fine of 438 million rubles on Google, or 9% of the company’s turnover on the local market of mobile applications in 2014, but the date to pay the penalty expired in August.

The U.S. company asked for a delay, but the request was dismissed. The service said earlier it could fine Google up to 500,000 rubles for disrespect of the order.

The service and the company are also currently involved in court proceedings.

(63.2174 rubles – U.S. $1)

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