It is indeed ******* that manufacturers are forced to include Play Store. Like there's any alternative good enough to replace it with in the first place.
They are not forced to install it. There are for example, plenty of Chinese phones which don't include it. If you root your device, you can uninstall the Play Store if you want.
That's because Google left China and because they use their own builds based on AOSP. Rooting your device is something that 1% of all users know how to. The rest of the population has no idea it's even possible to do so, which means the EU won't bother even mentioning it.
I find this as stupid as when Microsoft got fined for bundling IE with windows. why hasn't the EU complained that iphone comes with safari? just because it is a default doesn't mean you have to use it. I remember the line at the time being that people used IE because it came with it and people didn't know there was an alternative which frankly is ridiculous. at one stage apple didn't allow any app in the store that duplicated the functionality of an apple app which is anti competitive yet the EU didn't do anything about that.
Maybe because apples iOS market share is too thin? What's the percentage of phones and PCs that use iOS in comparison to Windows and Android? Android alone is already the most-used OS and then imagine how many windows PCs there are.
The market share isn't what is important. the EU made the complaint about Microsoft due to apparently being anti competitive by bundling a browser with windows. Microsoft never stopped anyone downloading another browser.
What do they mean? I can use any search engine I want. Not sure if you can change search engine in mobile chrome, but who forces you to use chrome?
Amazon Latest In EU Regulatory Spotlight With Commission Data Probe https://www.silicon.co.uk/workspace...y-spotlight-with-commission-data-probe-237221
Google has appealed a $5 billion Android fine from the EU October 9, 2018 https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/9/17956892/google-android-european-union-decision
Google To Charge Android Licence Fee For European Device Makers https://www.silicon.co.uk/mobility/mobile-apps/google-licence-fee-european-238019
