Google offers a 4 percent cut to comply with India’s competition order; MapMyIndia launches hardware devices

One Thing Today in Tech

Google has started to support third-party billing for Google Play Store purchases in India as the Android maker begins to comply with local rules, after its challenge to a diktat from India’s Competition Commission was initially rejected by the country’s top courts, but remains pending, TechCrunch reports. Meanwhile, C.E. Info Systems, better known for its geospatial software tech products under the brand MapMyIndia, which competes with Google Maps, for example, yesterday launched a new line of navigation and entertainment hardware products for cars and two-wheelers.

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Google has started to support third-party billing for Google Play Store purchases in India as the Android maker begins to comply with local rules, after its challenge to a diktat from India’s Competition Commission was initially rejected by the country’s top courts, but remains pending, TechCrunch reports.

Google said on a support page yesterday that it is offering all developers serving users in India the option to use an alternative billing system and outlined the steps developers need to follow to use the option. The change is in “response to recent regulatory developments” in the South Asian market, the company said, according to TechCrunch.

Back home in the US, Google is facing more anti-trust scrutiny. The latest development, according to Reuters, is that US Justice Department lawyers say that Google destroyed internal corporate communications and have asked a federal judge to sanction the company as part of the government's antitrust case over its search business.

The DOJ asserted in a court filing unsealed in a Washington, D.C., federal court yesterday that Google failed to timely suspend a policy allowing the automatic, permanent deletion of employees' chat logs, according to Reuters.

The government said Google “falsely” told the US in 2019 that it had suspended “auto-deletion” and was preserving chat communications as it was required to do under a federal court rule governing electronically stored information, according to Reuters.

Google has refuted the US justice department’s accusations, and also denied the underlying allegations that it abused its power in the internet search market. The US DOJ's sanctions bid marks at least the second time in the case that the government has sought to punish Google, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, here in India, C.E. Info Systems, better known for its geospatial software tech products under the brand MapMyIndia, which competes with Google Maps, for example, yesterday announced the launch of its new line navigation and entertainment hardware products for cars and two-wheelers.

The products, branded Mappls Gadgets, taking on the same name as the Mappls consumer app of MapMyIndia, include advanced Vehicle GPS trackers, Dash Cameras, In-Dash Navitainment Systems & Smart Helmet Kits, the Mumbai-listed company said in a press release.

Mappls Gadgets are available direct from the company at www.mapplsgadgets.com, as well as offline through approved genuine accessory showrooms of various OEMs. They can be shipped and installed pan India, with prices ranging from Rs. 4,990 to Rs. 38,990.

The Mappls software is integrated into these devices and works on Android, including Android Auto, and iOS, including Apple Carplay.