The European Commission has found Google guilty of abusing its Android market dominance. One of the areas where Google erred was it was bundling its search engine and Chrome apps into the Android operating system.
Furthermore, the commission accused Google of blocking phone makers from creating devices that run forked versions of Android, while making payments to certain large manufacturers and mobile network operators to exclusively bundle the Google Search app on handsets.
The commission directed the tech giant to end its illegal conduct “in an effective manner within 90 days of the decision.”
The indication of this is that Google will stop forcing manufacturers to pre-install Chrome and Google Search in order to offer the Google Play store on handsets. Google will also need to stop preventing phone makers from using forked versions of Android.
“Google did not provide any credible evidence that Android forks would be affected by technical failures or fail to support apps,” the commission alleged.
The Verge reported that Google’s illegal payments for app bundling ceased in 2014 after the EU started to look into the issue.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “Today, mobile internet makes up more than half of global internet traffic. It has changed the lives of millions of Europeans. Our case is about three types of restrictions that Google has imposed on Android device manufacturers and network operators to ensure that traffic on Android devices goes to the Google search engine. In this way, Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine. These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.”
The full statement by the EU is available here.
“We will appeal the Commission’s decision.”
In its response to the verdict, Google said it will appeal the decision.
“Android has created more choice for everyone, not less. A vibrant ecosystem, rapid innovation, and lower prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition,” says a Google spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.
Android has long been considered as open source software, but Google has slowly been adding key components into its Google Play Services software and associated agreements. Alongside anti-fragmentation agreements to keep manufacturers on Google’s version of Android, most Android handsets (outside of China) now ship with Google’s software and services bundled on them.
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