US judge to order changes in Google’s Android app store

Mr Donato has been weighing up how to punish Google since last December when a jury declared the Play Store a monopoly following a four-week trial

The verdict centred on Google’s nearly exclusive control over distribution of apps designed for Android phones (Peter Morgan/AP/PA)

A federal judge has indicated he will order major changes in Google’s Android app store to punish the company for engineering a system which a jury declared an illegal monopoly that has hurt millions of consumers and app developers.

Over the course of a three-hour hearing in San Francisco on Wednesday, US District Judge James Donato made it clear that the forthcoming shake-up he is contemplating will probably include a mandate requiring Google’s Play Store for Android phones to offer consumers a choice to download alternative app stores.