Under oath, employee reveals that Google spends billions so Android can compete with iOS،
One of the topics that the US v. Google antitrust lawsuit has focused on is the billions of dollars in search revenue sharing that Google pays to various
android phone wireless phone manufacturers and operators. All of this money is supposed to be used to help the Android ecosystem stay innovative so that it can become the strongest possible competitor to Apple’s iOS and
iPhone.
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Bloomberg, Jamie Rosenberg, a part-time Googler, was on the stand Wednesday and said the competition between Google and Apple is “as intense as it gets.” Some might think that since Google is paying Apple so much money to be the default search engine on Safari, the two companies must be best friends, but that doesn’t seem to be the case according to Rosenberg who started at Google in 2010 working on Android. and the Android Market (now the Google Play Store).
By sharing its search revenue with companies like
Samsung and Verizon, Google ensures that these companies have enough money to help them promote and support Android products. revshare funds can be used, for example, to help pay for expensive security updates. Rosenberg said: “We want our partners to have the same incentives,” emphasizing that revenue sharing is a “reinforcement mechanism” for this.
Google’s revshare program is designed to help Android makers and carriers defeat iOS
The Justice Department tried to show that revenue sharing payments weren’t necessary and that Google could use the money it collects on the 15% to 30% share of in-app payments revenue it collects on the Play Store. Although Rosenberg admitted that Google does not require the companies it shares revenue with to disclose how that money is used, he also said that Play Store revenue cannot be used to fund the Android ecosystem.
“We have a commercial interest in seeing Android succeed through Play. The idea that if we didn’t do such a good job of discovery that we would have the same success on games, I don’t think you can necessarily do that link.” Rosenberg said.
Google has made some changes. Its revenue share payments to wireless carriers are lower because it hasn’t incentivized carriers to sell more Android phones. Now, Google will pay carriers less in revenue sharing and more if they sell more products. Android Phones. Speaking about the U.S. carriers, Rosenberg said, “Frankly, we felt like we were doing more of our job than they were.”
In 2020, Google split its revenue sharing agreement with Samsung into three parts, one focused on search, another on services, and a third on marketing. But during his testimony, Rosenberg admitted that the marketing agreement required Samsung to use Google as its default search engine.
All agreements have the same goal in mind, the part-time Googler said under oath. “It’s all about making devices more competitive with iOS.”
