Tokyo - Saba:
The Japanese government announced on Tuesday that it has ordered Google to stop what it described as a violation of Japanese laws.
Japanese media quoted Saiko Nakajima, an official at the Japan Fair Trade Commission, as saying: "Google's behavior threatens to impede fair competition, especially with regard to the implementation of search functions in Android smartphones, which constitutes a violation of the competition law."
The Japan Fair Trade Commission accuses the US company of imposing restrictive conditions on Android smartphone manufacturers in Japan.
In particular, the accusation centers on Google's integration of its Google Play app store with the Chrome browser's search application, making the installation of this package a prerequisite for the sale of smart devices.
According to the FCA, Google Play is so widely used that Android devices are almost unmarketable without it.
The FCA also believes that Google provided financial incentives to smartphone manufacturers to exclude competing search applications.
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