European Commission Accuses Google Of Abusing Android’s Dominant Market Position

[Lucian Armasu]

The European Commission charged Google with abusing its dominant position in the Android market to pre-install its other applications and services.

European Commission Accuses Google Of Abusing Android’s Dominant Market Position : Read more

 

[Dantte]

So I bought a device the other day, it came with duracell batteries (not Energizer); that company must be sued because they are "thus denying consumers a wider choice in the" batteries "they use and stifling innovation."

The European Commision must be full of a bunch of morons!

 

[ohim]

Not again this european crap... they did it in the past with Microsoft, now they go after Google, but somehow they never seem to mind Apple ... And to be honest i find it fair that each OS developer to put w/e they want as default in their OS... if Opera / Firefox doesn`t like it then they should make their own OS.

 

[thundervore]

Honestly this makes sense. Google is bad at doing this.

For instance my Galaxy 6 came with Google apps preinstalled that I could not uninstall, or didn't even want because there were better alternatives My only choice was to disable them.

Google Play Books - Never used or will use
Google Play Movies & TV- Never used or will use
Google Music- Never used or will use
Google News Stand- Never used or will use
Chrome - I use Samsung browser with Adblock add in. Way better than chrome on a phone

So Google needs to stop shoving these apps down customers throat. If I wanted the apps I know that I could always find them in Google Play.

 

[targetdrone]

Manufactures never offering an OS upgrade for a device is a bigger problem than Google making them install Maps.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Honestly this makes sense. Google is bad at doing this.

For instance my Galaxy 6 came with Google apps preinstalled that I could not uninstall, or didn't even want because there were better alternatives My only choice was to disable them.

Google Play Books - Never used or will use
Google Play Movies & TV- Never used or will use
Google Music- Never used or will use
Google News Stand- Never used or will use
Chrome - I use Samsung browser with Adblock add in. Way better than chrome on a phone

So Google needs to stop shoving these apps down customers throat. If I wanted the apps I know that I could always find them in Google Play.

The majority of users are not as able as tech savvy people. The apps that come by default are what they use. Honestly what surprises me more is that the EU is going after Google now when not too long ago Apple was the dominant smart phone and they have all their apps pre-installed as well.

I am not a fan of Google but Android is their OS and they are not forcing you to use their OS nor do they force you to use their apps. You may not be able to uninstall them but I don't see why a company is required to offer anything on their own product other than their products.

If Google was not allowing you as the consumer to install and use another map program, then yea sue the hell out of them. That is not the case though as you can disable and install any map app you want.

 

[targetdrone]

Euro is mad because Euro is dominated by US tech companies so they sue to extort money. Euro has even gone after Amazon.

 

[house70]

Fact is, EU is going broke fast, and that is due to their leaders' inept political decisions. This so-called "consumerism" is just a screen for extortion. I will only believe they're honest about it when they go after ALL tech companies that have a significant market share and use same "bad" practices as Google /Microsoft do. The big fruity company comes to mind as a prime example of exclusivism.

 

[abbadon_34]

How is it Apple NEVER gets targeted? The cynic in me says its because they put Al Gore on it board of directors in 2003, but I really can't find any other explanation.

 

[USAFRet]

1. Microsoft
2. Google

Apple is not currently targeted because they 'appear' cool and friendly. And a large voting block of the younger generation lurvs them some Apple.

Eventually, we WILL see
3. Apple.

 

[jojesa]

Who's stopping users from installing any other alternative to Google apps. I have an Android and I don't use Google camera app, I use Firefox instead of Chrome, BlueMail, I use DuckDuckGo, Bing and Google search depending on what I need.

 

[ZolaIII]

Pure AOSP & mini Gaps.
Truth is Google is fighting against higher adoption of AOSP. First they tried with silver and gold program but they failed along with one, now they are bribing & that will also fail. Simply AOSP can resolve a lot of fragmentation, security and other problems, it's basic & you have all the choice there is to use what ever you want. Google did turn into the wrong direction making manicure heavy not efficient apps that people actually shouldn't use as there are much better open source alternatives like for instance K9 mail vs default mail app or Google ones & Open Camera vs default or Google camera. Any how peple should definitely need to be able to make their own choices & not forced ones from any company. Some of obsesses Google is or where using: you couldn't log to play store without G+ account (obsolete now pretty much as G+ is), the secondary services are tied to Google play like play news, books & music - video so you can't uninstall some of those apps as market will force bring them back. Naturally their is more but I thing this is enough. How many times did you mention fat bottom girls (Google employees) when Google play back services quietly updated not asking you anything wile you whose on the bad cellular connection, in roming or simply doing something else?

 

[ohim]

So many downvotes to posts that defend Google here ... Well what do you want next? An OS that has no browser and you should download your favourite by terminal command lines ?

If tomorrow i`ll start and build my own OS be sure no EU commision or anyone will stop me frommaking the OS as i please, if you don`t like it make your own OS with hookers and black jack ( © Bender )

 

[therealduckofdeath]

To all who wonders why Apple has never been "targeted" by the EU commission is simply because Apple has never been a big enough player to become relevant in antitrust cases in Europe. Their market share has always been somewhere between 10-20% in Europe. In the US there is a case against Apple on mobile devices and tablets, but, that's really not up to the EU to fix.
I use android myself and I use most of those forced pre-installed Google Play apps too, but, I'm still all on the EU commissions' side. Not letting users even disable the apps is as anti-competitive as it gets. No matter what side you're on.
That said, I think Google is actually fixing this with Android 6, where Google Play apps can be disabled.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

..oh, and one more thing. Regarding the write-up. Mixing this up with "the fear of forking Android" is just stupid. It seems like the writer doesn't really understand the concept of forking Android. A forked install comes default without any of the Google Play apps pre-installed, making the whole argument moot. Any manufacturer can do that whenever they want and some of them actually do.

 

[Lucian Armasu]

..oh, and one more thing. Regarding the write-up. Mixing this up with "the fear of forking Android" is just stupid. It seems like the writer doesn't really understand the concept of forking Android. A forked install comes default without any of the Google Play apps pre-installed, making the whole argument moot. Any manufacturer can do that whenever they want and some of them actually do.

Google has a contract with the Open Handset Alliance members that says they can't use another Android-based OS if they also use the "licensed" Android from Google.

http://www.cnet.com/news/google-alibabas-os-is-an-incompatible-version-of-android/