Tag: Android Antitrust Case

Will Charging European smartphone makers lead Google into Antitrust issues?

We all are aware of the Android Antitrust battle going between Google and the European Union. Google reacted to the fine imposed over them by EU with imposing a licensing fee on the Android smartphone makers in Europe. On Tuesday, 16th of Oct 2018, the tech giant announced that a licensing fee will be there for the device manufacturers to access the Google Play Store.

What good could licensing fee do to Google?

The European Commission hit Google with $5B for Android Antitrust Abuse on July of 18th this year. Google straightaway gainsaid all the allegations of market dominance over them and came up quoting, “Android has always provided more choices for everyone, not less”. The company claimed that the platform has been a reason abaft the livelihood of European developers.

And, now when Google has played its move of putting charges over the usage of Android apps in Europe, the question arises, is it an intellectual move? There is a marginal possibility that with this attempt the company might lose their grip on the search and browser industry as they have today. This decision of Google has withal opened the doors for other device makers as well to come up with their own stores.

For instance, Samsung could bring their galaxy apps into the phones in lieu of going for the paid chrome and Google search. So now, in the upcoming time, we might even witness the smartphones without Google Apps. This could leave the company with more competitors and increasing culls.

Closing Arguments

The Google had earlier appealed against the fine in the European court of law on the 9th of this month and now they have come up with this latest licensing policy. Looks like, they perceived that their appeal isn’t going at any conclusion.

So, this can’t be soothsaid right now will this action of the tech biggie would redress their balance for good this time or it will land them in hot waters. That, only time will tell.

Google challenges EU’s $5B penalty over Android Antitrust Case

This year, in the month of July, Google had been hit with the $5B fine by European Commission over Android Abuse. Now, after three months the tech giant decided to raise its shield by challenging the imposed penalty over Android Antitrust Abuse.

Why Google was charged three months ago?

Google was fined over the allegations of misusing the power for creating their dominance in the market. Google had been accused of pushing the users to its search engine with the motive to enfeeble its competitors. EC said that the company had been imposing illegal restrictions on Android device manufacturers for very long time to cement its dominant position in the search.

It was even said, back then, that the company has made various illegal dealings with different Android smartphone manufacturers by paying them. But, the search engine has always been in a denial to all the allegations. Google’s spokesman Al Verney even quoted, “Android has always provided more choice for everyone, not less“.  Indian origin Google CEO urged that the company has always allowed the developers to make a living through the platform.

What is the Google’s take now?

On Tuesday 9th October 2018, Google said, “We have now filed our appeal of the EC’s Android decision at the General Court of the EU“. Now, Google is counter attacking this fine by making an appeal in the European Court.

Closing thoughts

This fight between the European Commission and Google does not seem to be getting anywhere near a conclusion. The lawsuit is getting complex day by day and looks like neither of the parties are going to leave it without a fight. A final appeal in the lawsuit may occur at European Court soon.

Google loses its multi-billion dollar Antitrust Case against European Commission

We all are aware of the ongoing Android Antitrust case between Google and EU. In this case the European Commission alleged Google of having control of their Play Store in Android devices to stifle competition for search. On July 18th 2018, the European Union fined Google with $5B for favoring its own product in the smartphones.

Why Google has been accused of Android abuse?

Actually, the key issues, in this case, were the licensing terms that bounded smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google apps especially Google Search and Google Play in Android-based devices. Google Play has been the most dominant app store for all these years, the phone makers had no choice but to accept its terms. Google has even been accused of going a step further and paying to make its search engine default in all the new devices.

What were the motives behind this abuse?

Google has lost its biggest case, but the motive of doing it in the first place is still a debatable topic. Some say that Google wanted its apps to be familiar so that users can rely on it. This argument seems valid to some extent as users will seek it out which they have used it for a long time duration. Some other theories are also in the wind that Google tried to lower the value of being default search by pre-installing apps in devices.
Well, no matter what the motives were! But, European Commission has found Google guilty for Android abuse and it will have to pay. This Android abuse case has been in the top highlights lately and now we can only wait for any further lead on the issue.
Suggested Reading: Apple should also be fined over Antitrust Abuse, know why?