Legal proceedings are incredibly boring and almost always have zero impact on consumers, which I why I don’t plan on covering them on Android Beat, but this one is special. According to The Verge, who cites an article in The New York Times, a group of companies that includes Microsoft and Nokia have filed an antitrust complaint against Google in the European Union.
Their argument: When companies sign up to use Android, they have to bundle all of Google’s services and feature them prominently, thus making it difficult, practically impossible, to compete. Google owns 96% of the mobile search market and 70% of the smartphone market, which is technically a monopoly. The group of companies is also pretty pissed that Google gives away the Android source code, which makes it hard for competing platforms that are tied to the licensing business model. If I was Google, how would I defend myself? I’d point to the fact that Verizon Wireless, an American operator, always bundles their navigation service on the Android devices they sell. I’d point to Facebook, who just announced Home, and say that companies are free to inject their own service layer on top of Android. I’d point to Samsung, who made S-Voice to replace Google Now, S-Translator to replace Google Translate, and a myriad of other such small services in order to promote the Samsung brand instead of Google’s brand. I could go on, but I’ll stop. Hypothetically speaking, what’s the worst case scenario if this complaint goes to court? Google could be forced to let handset makers and operators pick and choose which Google services they want to bundle instead of today’s situation of all or nothing.
