14 DAY TRIAL // Back in April, the European Commission (EU) officially accused Google of abusing its dominant position on the market in Europe. On top of that, an antitrust probe into Android was also launched.
The US tech giant was accused of holding an unfair advantage by manipulating the search rank of rival firms, while promoting its own Google Shopping service in the process.
Fast forwards a few months into the present, and the Mountain View-based company is now facing a second antitrust investigation, this time in the US, once again centering on its iconic mobile operating system, Android.
According to a new report by Bloomberg, the Federal Trade Commission will try to determine whether Google is allowing fair competition or not. The company is accused of limiting access to its Android platform or prioritizing their own services on the Android platform, while restricting others.
If we’re to think about it, the issue is the same that arose in Russia and was brought to our attention by local search portal Yandex.
Google is getting berated everywhere
Not so long ago, we told you that the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) made a ruling in favor of Yandex. The company had accused Google of trying to force third-party device manufacturers (like Prestigio) to make its own search engine the default option.
Moreover, for Google to grant OEMs access to embed the Google Play Store onto their devices, manufacturers have to agree to ship products pre-installed with apps like Gmail, Google Search, Maps, and so on.
The US investigation is currently in its early stages, and if Google is lucky, it could end before it actually begins. Two years ago, the FTC also started an investigation into Google’s Internet search business, but it soon let everything drop.
Android currently holds 59.3% market share in the US, while Apple’s iOS has dominion over 38%. Windows Phone and BlackBerry OS trail behind with 3% each, according to the latest figures coming out of IDC.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong about bundling products and services together, but if a company dominates the market for a certain product and ends up outright forcing consumers to use a complementary product, then the issue of violating antitrust laws comes into question.
In a perfect world, a company should allow customers to choose from alternate manufacturers if they want to avoid bundled products. But Google doesn’t seem to be willing to conform to this rule.
As we mentioned, the investigation is still in its infancy, so we’ll just have to wait and see how all of this plays out in the near future.