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European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

europa.eu

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Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

#41

Post by saas_co_de »

vivan wrote: post #2

Can anyone concisely explain what this fine is for, and also why the same wouldn't apply to Apple for iOS? It seems to be a rehash of the issue that Microsoft faced when it only gave you Internet Explorer on install. But iOS comes with only Safari on install, and forces you to use Apple's various apps - how is this any different?

It is for having a dominant market position in mobile phones (90% global market share) and abusing the market position in mobile phone operating systems to favor their other products.

Apple does not have a dominant market position and does not give away iOS for free.

Making Android free is an anti-competitive practice because it inhibits the formation of a competitive market for mobile phone operating systems. Because Google's practice of making Android free inhibits competition they are not allowed to exploit the lack of competition for profit.

Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

#42

Post by bubblethink »

vivan wrote: post #2

Can anyone concisely explain what this fine is for, and also why the same wouldn't apply to Apple for iOS? It seems to be a rehash of the issue that Microsoft faced when it only gave you Internet Explorer on install. But iOS comes with only Safari on install, and forces you to use Apple's various apps - how is this any different?

This is more about google forcing OEMs to bundle a ton of google apps and making them default in order to get google play services. If you are an OEM, you have to accept the all or nothing proposition if you want google play. And all OEMs want google play. The android as you know is AOSP + google play services blobs. Nobody sells pure AOSP phones (not counting some small niche players).

Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

#44

Post by ar0 »

vivan wrote: post #32
ar0 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the European Commission alleges that Android has an 80% market share in Europe: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1492_en.htm (fifth paragraph) But for this case, they are using a definition that makes Android even more dominant: they allege that Google restricts device manufacturers' freedoms. And from a device manufacturer point of view, Android has a 90+% market share of "licensable smart mobile ope…

That is fair enough - though is there really any competition in that space? Even if Google did nothing, I imagine most manufacturers would continue using Android as there isn't much choice. I don't actually know any mobile OS other than iOS and Android variants. Blackberry, Nokia (?) and Windows for mobile are all pretty much dead at this point.

Well, that's why they don't want to limit Android's market share, instead they want to open up Android licensing restrictions.

In particular, the EU alleges that if you want to install Google Play on your phones, you need to sign a license agreement which also forces you to: a) install Google Chrome; b) make Google Search the default search engine; and c) not sell phones with Android forks at the same time ("Anti-Fragmentation Agreement").

They want to force Google to allow manufacturers to more freely chose which apps to pre-install and also to be able to offer Android forks in parallel to "Google-finish" Android.

I'm not sure if this will really be good for consumers... I would argue that most smartphones have too much crapware on them, not too little. On the other hand, the Microsoft Internet Explorer unbundling case arguably helped fuel the success of Firefox in breaking the IE dominance, which I would argue was good for consumers.

Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

#45

Post by tomaha »

realusername wrote: post #36
ekianjo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android does not have a monopoly either. You can buy an iPhone.

That's not what a monopoly means, yeah you can buy an iPhone but Android has 75% market share in Europe, that's why it's a monopoly.

The problem with this definition is that it also assumes that if you have 75%+ market share you're likely having a similar share of the profits which is not the case here. If you take profit into account it's really at best a 50-50 market for Google.

Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

#46

Post by TekMol »

kryptiskt wrote: post #39
TekMol wrote: post #29

I wonder to what extend this was anticipated by the market. The stock is down about 1%. Not much considering that $5B should be about 1/3 of Googles yearly earnings. On the other hand, 1% of Googles stock is about $8B. From that viewpoint, one might think it has come unanticipated. Then again, stocks rise and fall 1% all the time. So it's hard to read something into it. Is this the same case as reported in January he…

It's not the same, IIRC that was for favoring their own services in search results.

Thanks. Looks like they are getting used to paying fines as a regular part of their business.

Maybe in future earning reports we will see statements like "Legal fines went up 80% YOY from $7B to $12B and we are planning to continue our aggressive spendings in this area to expand our market dominance".

Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

#49

Post by vatueil »

detaro wrote: post #38
vivan wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is fair enough - though is there really any competition in that space? Even if Google did nothing, I imagine most manufacturers would continue using Android as there isn't much choice. I don't actually know any mobile OS other than iOS and Android variants. Blackberry, Nokia (?) and Windows for mobile are all pretty much dead at this point.

It's also about giving the manufacturers more freedom in what "flavor" of Android they ship, e.g. currently Google forbids them from making both devices with Android with all the Google stuff and devices without it, or devices only using some of the package.

Seems kinda perverse. After all, you can't fork Windows, macOS, or iOS at all. Why should making Android more open than the competition lead to worse punishment?

Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case

#50

Post by icebraining »

tomaha wrote: post #45
realusername wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what a monopoly means, yeah you can buy an iPhone but Android has 75% market share in Europe, that's why it's a monopoly.

The problem with this definition is that it also assumes that if you have 75%+ market share you're likely having a similar share of the profits which is not the case here. If you take profit into account it's really at best a 50-50 market for Google.

There's no implied assumption about profits.
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