The European Union's anti-trust agency, the European Commission, has officially launched an investigation against Alphabet and Google about anti-competitive behavior in the Android operating system. The regulatory agency claims that Google violated anti-trust laws by "requiring manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Google's Chrome browser and requiring them to set Google Search as default search service on their devices" in addition to "preventing manufacturers from selling smart mobile devices running on competing operating systems based on the Android open source code."
The Commission opened proceedings in April 2015 concerning Google's conduct as regards the Android operating system and applications. At this stage, the Commission considers that Google is dominant in the markets for general internet search services, licensable smart mobile operating systems and app stores for the Android mobile operating system. Google generally holds market shares of more than 90 percent in each of these markets in the European Economic Area.
The EC's filing also addresses a Google-mandated "Anti-Fragmentation Agreement" that hardware manufacturers must sign if they wish to install Google's applications. The agreement "has granted significant financial incentives to some of the largest smartphone and tablet manufacturers as well as mobile network operators" to signatories if they agree to not sell any hardware running an Android fork.
The Commission believes that these business practices may lead to a further consolidation of the dominant position of Google Search in general internet search services. It is also concerned that these practices affect the ability of competing mobile browsers to compete with Google Chrome, and that they hinder the development of operating systems based on the Android open source code and the opportunities they would offer for the development of new apps and services.
Commissioner Vestager has made
her own statement about the reasoning behind the European Commission's filing, saying that "we found that Google pursues an overall strategy on mobile devices to protect and expand its dominant position in internet search. It does so by imposing unjustified restrictions and conditions on manufacturers of devices running its Android mobile operating system as well as on mobile network operators."
She also says in her reasoning that "A majority of smartphone and tablet manufacturers use Android in combination with Google's proprietary apps and services, such as Google Search, Google Play Store and Google Chrome. To be able to pre-install these applications and services on their devices, manufacturers need to obtain a licence from Google. Google grants these licences only under certain restrictive conditions."
Less than 10 minutes after the filing, Google
issued a response to the statement, claiming that Google's model is "good for competition and for consumers." Additionally, Google's approach grants users "extraordinary choices of apps and devices at ever-lower prices." She also addresses her own concerns that Google's approach is "restricting innovation also in the wider mobile space."
The search engine giant also notes that its partner agreements, such as the anti-fragmentation agreement are voluntary, and "anyone can use Android without Google." It doesn't specifically deny that it bundles Google apps, but notes that "we provide Android for free, and offset our costs through the revenue we generate on our Google apps and services we distribute via Android."
No decision is expected soon, and in all likelihood, not even in this decade, given the pace of other Google EC investigations.
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