ShanghaiDaily reports that in China, Samsung will have some explaining to do about the amount of crapware it ships in its smartphones. The Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission has sued Samsung (and Chinese OEM Oppo) for loading up devices with crapware.
The commission studied 20 smartphones and said that many pre-installed apps were un-removable and eat into customers' data plans. The commission specifically calls out the Galaxy Note 3, which had 44 apps installed (stock KitKat with the full Google Play suite ships with 31 apps) and the Oppo Find 7a, which had a whopping 71 apps.
The lawsuit says that the companies didn't inform buyers of the included crapware, which infringed the consumer's right to know. The group wants a ruling that would make OEMs legally obligated to clearly label the included apps on the packaging and to provide consumers instructions for removing the apps. Samsung and Oppo have 15 days from the case's acceptance date to enter a defense.
Crapware is a problem in the US on all platforms, but we'd imagine it's a particular problem for Chinese Android devices, where the lack of official Google apps creates a vacuum for decent content and apps. When you can't include the Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Drive, calendar, and Google content stores for music, movies, TV shows, magazines, and books, what do you include?
OEMs have taken to bundling app stores of their own or licensing a store from a third party like Baidu. With no de facto provider for the basic apps listed above, there are probably lots of little camps of consumers that prefer one solution over another and want to uninstall the included apps and install their favorite third-party option.
“The litigation is our latest attempt to safeguard consumers’ rights after other methods failed,” said Tao Ailian, the secretary general of the commission. “We hope it will force other companies in the sector to end the unreasonable, but common, practice of pre-installing apps without telling consumers. This is something that is very much necessary for the healthy development of the whole industry."
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