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NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Google (GOOGL.O) said on Friday it will cooperate with India's competition authority after the Supreme Court upheld stringent antitrust directives forcing the U.S. firm to change how it markets its popular Android platform in a key growth market.
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The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ruled in October that Google, owned by Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), exploited its dominant position in Android and told it to remove restrictions on device makers, including those related to pre-installation of apps and ensuring exclusivity of its search.
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Google has been concerned about India's decision as the steps are seen as more sweeping than those imposed in the European Commission's landmark 2018 ruling against Android.
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About 97% of 600 million smartphones in India run on Android, while in Europe, the system accounts for 75% of the 550 million smartphones, according to Counterpoint Research estimates.
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On Thursday, Google lost a challenge in India's Supreme Court to block the CCI directives, getting seven days to comply, a move that will force the company to make changes to how it strikes agreements with device makers who use its free, open-source Android platform.
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The Indian directives "will set precedence on how much Google is forced to open up the Android platform to third party local app stores, apps and services," said Neil Shah, research director at Counterpoint Research.
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There, Google made changes including letting Android device users pick their default search engine and said device makers will be able to license the Google mobile application suite separately from the Google Search App or the Chrome browser.
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