Google Accused of Dominating Chinese Smartphone Market

Published on: 6th Mar 2013

­Google is accused of having too much control over the Chinese smartphone industry through its Android OS, according to a report from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Android is estimated to be the OS installed in around 90% of smartphones sold in China last year.

The white paper, authored by the research arm of the ministry, also said China had the ability to create its own mobile operating system.

"Our country's mobile operating system research and development is too dependent on Android," the paper said. "While the Android system is open source, the core technology and technology roadmap is strictly controlled by Google."

The paper accused Google of discriminating against some Chinese companies developing their operating systems by delaying the sharing of codes.

A Google spokesman in China declined to comment when contacted by the Shanghai Times.

Google had also used commercial agreements to restrain the business development of mobile devices of these companies, the report added. Last year, Taiwan's Acer cancelled the launch of a smartphone based on the OS developed by China's Alibaba Group, allegedly following pressure from Google.

On the web: Shanghai Times

 

Tags: [google]  [android]  [China]