Acting on a complaint by Russian search giant Yandex, Russia's antitrust authority has ruled that Google's policy forbidding the pre-installation of competing search providers on GMS-enabled devices is illegal in the country. Yandex, who dominates the huge Russian market on the desktop, has been hemorrhaging market share in mobile to Google. Their complaint is that Google cannot have a rule requiring Google be the default (and only) search engine on devices that ship with the Play Store.

Now, Google never prevents people from downloading a different search provider from the Play Store. From the perspective of Yandex, though, Google dominates the mobile market so much that this policy is an abuse of their power. While manufacturers technically can choose to ship Android without Play Services, it would be commercially nonviable.

The government agency has told Google that they have until November 18th to change their policy regarding the pre-installation of Google Search on Android devices that use the Play Store. If they do not do this or at least take some steps in that direction, Russia could levy a fine as large as 15% of Google's mobile apps revenue in the country from 2014. Basically, the antitrust authority wants Google to say it is okay for phone makers to both have the Play Store and ship with Yandex installed. It's tough to say whether cooperation by Google would have an effect on other markets.

Google hasn't yet responded publicly to the ruling, telling a Reuters contact that their legal team is looking over the full decision before speaking out.

Source: Reuters