Revealed in court: Google paid $8 billion over 4 years to make its services default on Samsung devices

Revealed in court: Google paid $8 billion over 4 years to make its services default on Samsung devices،

Not long ago, we shared details about Google reportedly spending $18 billion to maintain its status as the iPhone’s default search engine. Now, amid the second ongoing case filed by Epic Games against Google, some intriguing revelations emerge, this time involving phone makers Google and Android.

Bloomberg The report reveals that Google has committed to paying a whopping $8 billion over four years to Samsung. This considerable sum secures Google’s search engine, voice assistant and Play Store by default on Samsung mobile devices. The disclosure comes from testimony presented by Epic Games during the trial.

James Kolotouros, Google’s vice president of partnerships, revealed the truth when he said that Google had designed strategies to share app store revenue with Android mobile device makers. The objective? Ensure their products are pre-installed with Google Play on home screens.

Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, claims that Google’s app marketplace violates antitrust laws, using the Samsung deal as a prime example of deals made four years ago with android phone creators.

Kolotouros’ testimony highlights that Samsung devices contribute half or more of Google Play’s revenue. Epic aims to demonstrate that Google executives were keen to discourage the rise of third-party app stores that could hurt Google Play’s operating profit. Epic estimates that profit will exceed $12 billion in 2021, taking into account the standard 30% revenue cut Google takes from app developers.

Epic lawyer Lauren Moskowitz looked into a 2019 internal Google presentation titled “Project Banyan.” The project focused on investing funds to strengthen the Google Play Store against Samsung’s Galaxy App Store. The presentation began with “Existential question: How can we continue to maintain Play as the preeminent distribution platform for Android?»

In 2019, Google offered to pay Samsung $200 million over four years to include Samsung’s Galaxy Store app marketplace in the Google Play Store. However, this project was abandoned, leading to the signing of three agreements the following year, totaling $8 billion over four years.

Internal documents presented at the trial indicate that Google saved nearly $1 billion over four years by withdrawing its request to make Google Play available exclusively on a device’s first screen, called the home screen. This meant that Google Play would appear on the home screen, giving Samsung the option to add the Galaxy Store, according to the document.

Under scrutiny from Google lawyer Glenn Pomerantz, Koloturos clarified that Google and Samsung never reached an agreement prohibiting Samsung from placing its Galaxy store on a device’s home screen. The essence of these agreements, according to Kolotouros, was to prevent users from switching from Samsung’s Android devices to Apple’s iPhone, thereby reinforcing Google’s position that its policies and agreements are legitimate efforts in a spirit healthy competition.