US judge orders Google to open its app store to rivals

The injunction by U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco outlined the changes Google must undertake to open up its app store to greater competition, including making Android apps available from rival sources

A U.S. judge on Monday ordered Alphabet’s Google to overhaul its mobile app business to give Android users more options to download apps and to pay for transactions within them, following a jury verdict last year for “Fortnite” maker Epic Games.

The injunction by U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco outlined the changes Google must undertake to open up its app store, Play, to greater competition, including making Android apps available from rival sources.

Donato’s order said that for three years Google cannot bar the use of in-app payment methods and must let users download competing third-party Android app platforms or stores.

The order restricts Google from making payments to device makers to preinstall its app store and from sharing revenue generated from the Play store with other app distributors.

Google in a statement said it will appeal the verdict that led to the injunction to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and will ask the U.S. courts to pause Donato’s order pending appeal.

Ultimately, while these changes presumably satisfy Epic, they will cause a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers, it said.

Epic Chief Executive Tim Sweeney posted to the social media platform X on Monday that Donato’s order was “big news” and said his Epic Games Store and other app stores will come to Google Play in 2025.

Sweeney said app developers, store makers and others have three years “to build a vibrant and competitive Android ecosystem with such critical mass that Google can’t stop it.”

Donato said Epic and Google must establish a three-person technical committee to implement and monitor the injunction. Epic and Google each get a pick, and those two members will select the third person.

Donato said his injunction would go into effect on November 1, which he said will give Google time to “bring its current agreements and practices into compliance.”

Epic’s lawsuit, filed in 2020, accused Google of monopolising how consumers access apps on Android devices and how they pay for in-app transactions.

Google had urged Donato to reject Epic’s proposed reforms, arguing they were costly, overly restrictive and could harm consumer privacy and security. The judge mostly dismissed those arguments during an August hearing.

You are going to end up paying something to make the world right after having been found to be a monopolist, he told Google’s lawyers.