The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has asked Google to change its contracts with handset vendors by 18 November, or face fines up to 15 percent of its revenues from pre installed apps in Russia in 2014, reports Cnet. According to the agency, Google is abusing its dominant position in the Russian market by having a contractual requirement for device makers to install Google apps. The FAS had decided in September that Google was breaching competition rules following a complaint by Russian search service Yandex. Yandex currently offers its own version of Android with apps that replace those offered by Google. However, the company reported that device makers had been pressurised by Google to not support its offerings. Note that while Android is free and open source for developers to use and distribute, Google places atrocious conditions on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to ensure that they do not fork from Google offered Android. A leaked document at Ars Technica last year revealed that Google requires OEMs to include all its apps or none at all. Additionally, the agreement places a company-wide ban on Android forks, forbidding OEMs from taking "any actions that may cause or result in the fragmentation of Android" and disallowing distributing or encouraging a third party to distribute "a software development kit derived from Android." The "Mobile Application Distribution Agreement" (MADA), might have been modified since then, as the copy received by Ars was dated prior to the release of Android 3.0. Still, the document is indicative…
