For Google Play, dominating the Android world was ‘existential’

Epic is seeking to show that executives at the Alphabet Inc unit were eager to discourage the proliferation of third-party app stores that would cut into Google Play’s operating profit. — Photo by Pathum Danthanarayana on Unsplash

Google agreed to pay US$8bil (RM37.76bil) over four years to Samsung Electronics Co to make its search engine, voice assistant and Play Store the default on the company’s mobile devices, according to testimony presented by Epic Games Inc.

James Kolotouros, Vice President for Partnerships at Google, testified Monday under questioning by an Epic lawyer in the San Francisco trial that Google devised plans to share app store revenue with Android mobile device makers to ensure their products were preinstalled with Google Play on home screens.