What Europe’s Google Fine Means for Android Users

The European Union wants Google to stop tying together its search, browser and app store products for handset makers. The regulators would love it if Google simply let handset makers like Samsung ship Android phones loaded with their own browsers and app stores instead of Google’s. Yet the European Union is letting Google decide how it wants to comply with its ruling. Keep in mind that Google is staffed with some of the world’s top lawyers and engineers, who will probably find compliance solutions that have a minimal impact on its business. And handset makers are in a tough predicament: They probably wouldn’t want to strip their phones of Google’s apps, simply because many customers enjoy using the search giant’s products. So there's only a slim chance that you will see any changes. If Google decides to make any noticeable changes at all, the changes might appear only for European Android users who have phones with the newer Android operating system. Even if Google made some tweaks to its operating system in the next 90 days, they would most likely show up only in the latest versions. Only about 5 percent are running the latest version of Android, called Oreo.