An internal lenovo motorola document shows the company gets paid millions when it complies with goog

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Posted Nov 29, 2023 at 10:53 PM UTC

An internal Lenovo / Motorola document shows the company gets paid millions when it complies with Google.

A document titled “Impact of non-compliance” lists different payments for different percentages of Motorola phones that comply with Google’s rules under its Mobile Incentive Agreement (MIA), ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to multiple millions.

In 2020, if over 95 percent of Motorola devices were compliant, parent Lenovo would receive $5.3 million, Christensen explained.

For 2021, the amount was $6 million.

One of the requirements for compliance (bolding mine):

We are prohibited from:
Pre-loading our own or third-party apps that are similar to theirs including: wallets, payment apps, browsers, search providers, other assistants like Alexa, or apps that download other apps such as Digital Turbine or another app store

This may be a good find for Epic, because it appears to be a direct payment — not a complicated deal that involves co-marketing or revenue share. Even though it’s similar to what Google requires with its RSAs, it looks more like Epic’s argument that Google pays some companies not to compete. Not every OEM had an MIA — the Department of Justice alleged that LG and Motorola were the ones.

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