European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

Post by pbhjpbhj » Wed, Jul 18, 2018, 12:58 PM UTC

repolfx wrote: post #74

littlecranky67 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A monopoly is not defined by the possiblity that there are other products available for purchase on the market, but rather how many products have been purchased and are in use. Using your reasoning, Microsoft could never have had a monopoly on Windows because you always could have bought a Mac.

That latter definition is in fact a reasonable counter-argument to Windows being a monopoly (people did buy Macs), and that's why Microsoft got in trouble for the deals they cut to try and crush Netscape, not for making a more popular OS than Apple did. You can't define a monopoly as "your competitors aren't popular" because otherwise it'd be illegal to invent new product categories, as at the start you'd be the only…

Post by andrepd » Wed, Jul 18, 2018, 12:59 PM UTC

r_singh wrote: post #324

archi42 wrote: post #279

Site is under maintanance, Google Cache link (hahaha): http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:europa.... //edit: oh, took only a minute or two :) nice work I really like this point: > [Google] has prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google apps from selling even a single smart mobile device running on alternative versions of Android that were not approved by Google (so-called "Android forks")…

I agree, if dropped, this will motivate big electronics players to release smart phones powered by android that aren't Google infested. Sometimes when I'm in a cynical mood, I feel like my android phone isn't really mine, it's owned by google and exists purely to serve them. This would improve the smartphone market on so many levels. We need a great driver support for AOSP, multiple app stores, community driven updat…

Post by tajen » Wed, Jul 18, 2018, 1:01 PM UTC

akie wrote: post #290

endorphone wrote: post #286

This is a dangerous ruling that pushes the world further into the potential for trade wars by proxy. Contrary to numerous posts- -no, the law isn't "clear". This is an incredibly nuanced situation, and the notion that Google was just overtly flouting (ed: thx sjcsjc) the law is outright nonsense. Google has a huge litany of bad practices (I personally recently switched my daily driver to an iPhone for that reason), b…

> is going to ring across all multinationals as a warning I'm not sure how that's a bad thing.

Post by rusk » Wed, Jul 18, 2018, 1:02 PM UTC

SparklingCotton wrote: post #328

oliwarner wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm not alleging Apple was passive here, at all I'm saying that when you get a deal this good — however you ended up there — you should not be surprised when it turns out that it was illegal. Of course Apple shopped around. But if somebody offered to sell you $20 bills for half a cent each, would you suspect something dodgy? That's the scale of the issue here.

Apple should be forced to pay back 10x what they gained in this illegal deal. It's bleedingly obvious that it's illegal to be taxed differently than other companies. Paying back €13bn is nothing. Companies that "make deals" on tax anywhere in the world should be effectively banned from the EU market. It's pure evil. Or pay 10x of any gain they have made anywhere in the world by "making deals" on tax, thereby undercut…

Post by ahartmetz » Wed, Jul 18, 2018, 1:03 PM UTC

cageface wrote: post #337

ahartmetz wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they don't control the devices of 87% of users. Their profits are good for them and all, but have no direct bearing on their ability to exert unfair influence, especially in other markets (e.g. search engines).

They have plenty of influence for developers, which means they have influence for consumers. They have a huge say in what apps and websites get built and how because everybody has to play by their rules to get on their lucrative platform. Do you think you could launch a successful search engine today that wasn't available on iOS? Take Safari as a case in point. Apple doesn't allow other browsers on their platform whi…