C_NCENTRATE #585: World's Largest Magnet, Deadlines, Chromecast Ads, Google's Indian Slap
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GOOGLE GUILTY OF ANTI-COMPETITIVE BEHAVIOUR IN INDIA
Facebook was the big story this week, but you need to read the WSJ links below as they are doing sterling journalism. See the (many) links below and cancel your account. Instead, let's look at India, a complex territory navigating tough times.
Simultaneously sticking it to companies like Amazon while inviting investment from all corners of the world. India has now taken Google to the mat with an anti-competitive blow that ruled Google abused Android's dominance in India to the detriment of competitors. Per counterpoint research, Android powers 98% of the 540 million phones in India.
Using its' huge financial muscle', Google reduced "the ability and incentive of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices operating on alternative versions of Android," according to a 750-page report from the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) investigations unit published. Google can, of course, and likely will, appeal the decision. Just one of the multiple probes happening for everyone's favourite 'search engine'(!), Google needs to look a lot fluffier so as not to give the US Congress even more ammo to lob at them. In 2020, Google promised to spend $10 billion in India over the next seven years, the biggest commitment Google has made to a key territory.
It's being fought hard for too. Facebook now owns 10% of Jio Platforms (the largest network provider in India). WhatsApp just launched payments. Google launched a phone with Jio recently, and Walmart has big stakes in the country. India likes competition, home-grown successes, and control. While the country enjoys the benefits big tech companies can bring to the region, the country is acutely aware of the power these companies yield. Not just to their people's lives but also to the government's ability to govern.
SO WHAT?
__ DO __ Expect more aggressive moves in this area from all parties. Akanksha Singh (a leading Mumbai Reporter) calls this 'digital colonialism', but what was once resources is now data. The prize is grand after all; 1.3 billion souls with an increasingly affluent middle-class. India remains a key territory with fierce existing rules in flux as the country grapples with leadership and competition from all sides. // __ DON'T __ Expect India to stop pushing back. A key example was India recently changing e-commerce rules to counter/target Amazon specifically. The company is working the PR machine hard to show how much India's benefits from Amazon being in the country.
Facebook had a dreadful week, and my years of calling it 'the big blue misery machine are sadly very accurate'. [10 mins, 4 mins, 6 mins, 8 mins, 5 mins, 9 mins]
Google is planning free (ad-supported) TV on Chromecast. [5 mins]
Telegram is taking on the Dark Web as bad folks' first stop. [7 mins]
A new way of thinking about deadlines. [8 mins]
Boots just launched its own marketing agency. [7 mins]
Why bias isn't the only problem with credit scores that AI won't fix. [8 mins]
This magnet could lift an aircraft and will be inside a nuclear reactor. [4 mins]
Is Y-Combinator worth it? [6 mins]
Walmart just launched a driverless delivery service. [5 mins]
How to know if you should localise your product for the Chinese market? [5 mins]
ALERT! Season one of Mouthwash is now available on Spotify, Goodpods, Apple Music and more! [6 mins]
