Last year, the EU had hit Google with a €4.3 billion antitrust fine. One of the reasons was that Google makes Android phone manufacturers install the Google Search app and Chrome as a condition for allowing them to offer access to the Play Store and other Google services. According to the EU, this helped Google’s monopoly over web search. Google did split Android, Chrome, and Search to comply with regulations, but now Google will also start presenting prompts to Android users in Europe with an option to download other search apps and browsers.
After a Google Play update, two new screens will be displayed to users. One will be for different search apps and the other for different web browsers. Each screen will feature four recommendations. The apps will be chosen based on their popularity but listed in a random order.
If a user does install an additional search app or browser, they will be shown an additional screen with instructions on how to set up the new app (for example, placing app icons and widgets or setting defaults). If a user downloads a search app, they’ll be asked whether they want to change Chrome’s default search engine the next time they open Chrome.
The screens are rolling out over the next few weeks and will apply to both existing and new Android phones in Europe.
Source: Google
