Solution of Google Tax
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) announced on May 17 that a revised enforcement ordinance of the Telecommunications Business Act becomes effective in July in order to ban the design of a smartphone that prevents the removal of a pre-loaded application by its user. According to the new rule, mobile carriers and smartphone manufacturers as well as Google can be subject to a penalty equivalent to 1% of their sales when providing a pre-loaded app and preventing it from being removed by a user.
Recently, the European Union reached a tentative conclusion that Google’s pressure on Android smartphone manufacturers for the installation of its pre-loaded apps constitutes a violation of the antitrust law. According to the Telegraph, the European Commission is planning to impose a penalty of three billion euro on Google early next month with regard to it.
Things have been quite different in South Korea though. Five years ago, South Korean mobile search providers such as Naver and Daum Communications filed a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) of South Korea, claiming that the Google search app pre-loaded on Android smartphones corresponds to Google’s abuse of its dominant position, but the FTC acquitted Google two years later. Under the circumstances, much attention is being paid to what will become of the new ordinance with regard to consumers’ rights to choose.
According to the Korea Internet & Security Agency, South Korean smartphone users had an average of 48 apps on their phones last year. The number of Google’s pre-loaded and non-removable apps is estimated at 11 to 15 while those of Apple, manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and mobile carriers are estimated at 26, 15 to 18 and three or four, respectively.