Europe opens antitrust investigation into Android

The European Commission has been examining Google’s Android operating system for nearly three years, and it is now ready to launch a formal investigation into claims of unfair app bundling. Google services and apps like Maps, Chrome, and YouTube are often bundled with Android devices, and competitors have complained that it’s giving Google an unfair advantage. Regulators previously questioned telecom companies and phone manufacturers, to see whether Google forces them to bundle apps or services at the expense of competitors.

"The investigation will focus on whether Google has entered into anti-competitive agreements or abused a possible dominant position in the field of operating systems, applications and services for smart mobile devices," says the Commission. The European Commission will focus on three key areas for its investigation. The first is whether Google has hindered the development and market access of rival apps and services by requiring or incentivising smartphone and tablet makers to exclusively pre-install Google’s own apps and services. The Commission will also investigate whether Google has prevented smartphone and tablet makers from creating modified versions of Android that run Google’s apps and services. A final key area will focus on whether Google is tying or bundling its apps and services on Android devices with other Google apps, services, or APIs.

Dexic: Kako Google forsira nesto kada je OS otvoren i firme koje ga koriste odlucuju sta ce ici? Kao sto u Kini nikada ne ide ;)

Dexic:
Kako Google forsira nesto kada je OS otvoren i firme koje ga koriste odlucuju sta ce ici? Kao sto u Kini nikada ne ide ;)

A za YouTube bas postoje alternative da je nefer sto dolazi uz OS :D Jos i PlayStore da ne smeju da stave, jer jel' te AppStore je competition :)

Android is an open-source mobile operating system, meaning that it can be freely used and developed by anyone. The majority of smartphone and tablet manufacturers, however, use the Android operating system in combination with a range of Google's proprietary applications and services. In order to obtain the right to install these applications and services on their Android devices,manufacturers need to enter into certain agreements with Google.

- whether Google has illegally hindered the development and market access of rival mobile applications or services by requiring or incentivising smartphone and tablet manufacturers to exclusively pre-install Google’s own applications or services;

- whether Google has prevented smartphone and tablet manufacturers who wish to install Google's applications and services on some of their Android devices from developing and marketing modified and potentially competing versions of Android (so-called “Android forks”) on other devices, thereby illegally hindering the development and market access of rival mobile operating systems and mobile applications or services;

- whether Google has illegally hindered the development and market access of rival applications and services by tying or bundling certain Google applications and services distributed on Android devices with other Google applications, services and/or application programming interfaces of Google.

Procedural background

Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) prohibits anticompetitive agreements and decisions of associations of undertakings.

bigvlada: Google vs. EU: A $6 billion antitrust fine if Google loses

Nedeljko
Ako je homopolitikusima zafalilo za šmrkanje, neko će to morati da isfinansira.