Welcome to the 469th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week.
India’s Supreme Court upheld a court ruling this week in regard to how Google handles Android. The ruling requires Google to allow OEMs to choose which Google apps to include, lets users choose their search engine of choice, and a host of other changes. The changes may change how Google handles Android in other parts of the world as well. Hit the link to learn more.
Google reportedly has over 20 AI products in development right now. The company shifted to AI to compete with ChatGPT, which is a much larger disruption than Google thought. Some products are for developers, and others are going to be useful to us consumers. That includes a possible chatbot function within Google Search. We’ll keep you updated if any of these projects release to the public.
Apple is allegedly in a silent war against Google. The company is apparently investing in a variety of products to combat Google directly, including an Apple-powered search engine, online advertising, and more. This is a pretty big deal if it’s true, and it could impact how Google handles some of its products in the future.
The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Google. The claim is that Google has a monopoly on the digital ad space that unfairly favors its own products. The lawsuit alleges that Google has a monopoly over everything from advertising to digital creation tools and that other competitors are being squeezed out because of it. With its 92% search engine dominance, there’s a case, but with competing companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon also making bank off of advertising revenue, the lawsuit may fall flat.
Google has wanted to hide old and abandoned apps in the Play Store for a long time, and Android 14 may be the start of it. The new OS is said to have stricter restrictions against older apps, and may even prevent users from sideloading old apps onto their devices. The idea is that older apps provide a worse experience for users. However, a lot of people use older versions of apps to get around new changes to apps that they don’t like. We’ll learn more once Android 14 starts releasing later this year.
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