$8 billion for four years, Epic said Google bundled Samsung users by sharing Play Mall revenue and other means

CTOnews.com November 14 news, this Monday in San Francisco trial session, under Epic lawyers cross-examination, Google partnership vice president James Kolotouros (James Kolotouros) revealed that in order to let Samsung and other mobile phone manufacturers pre-install Play Store, had proposed to share the Play Store revenue to mobile phone manufacturers plan.

Epic's lawyers showed off a four-year agreement between Google and Samsung, in which Google paid Samsung $8 billion to ensure Galaxy phones came pre-installed with the Play Store and used its search engine and voice assistant by default.

The documents show that Google had planned to invest $2.9 billion in 2020 (CTOnews.com notes: currently about 21.141 billion yuan), working with Android OEMs and cellular network operators to ensure that Google is set as the default search engine, pre-installed Play Store and other key Google applications on their devices.

As a "rebate," these device manufacturers can share revenue from Play Store or Search ads, which Google calls RSA 3.0.

Kolotouros admitted in court that at least half of the revenue on the Play Store came from Samsung devices.

Epic lawyers say third-party app stores cost Google $12 million in 2021 (currently about 87.48 million yuan). But Kolotouros said Google and Samsung never agreed, saying the original intention of the plan was to prevent customers from switching from Samsung Android phones to Apple iPhones.