“Google Inc. could soon face a formal complaint by European Union regulators over its Android operating system for mobile phones, just as it is seeking to address separate concerns over its dominance in Internet search in Europe,” Vanessa Mock reports for The Wall Street Journal. “In their joint complaint, Nokia Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and over a dozen other companies accuse Google of anticompetitive behavior because of the way it uses Android to promote its own applications on smartphones.”
“‘Google is using its Android mobile operating system as a ‘Trojan Horse’ to deceive partners, monopolize the mobile marketplace, and control consumer data,’ said Thomas Vinje, the chief lawyer for Fairsearch, a coalition of Google’s competitors,” Mock reports. “The complaint says manufacturers of Android-powered smartphones who want to include Google apps such as Maps, YouTube or Play are required to preload an entire suite of Google mobile services and to give them prominent default placement on the phone.”
Mock reports, “The EU’s antitrust chief, Joaquín Almunia, has referred several times to concerns over Android over the past year, but hasn’t yet indicated whether he will take up the case… Google is facing several other probes in Europe, which could lead to millions of dollars in additional fines. Last week, six European privacy regulators launched parallel investigations into Google’s handling of users’ personal data.”
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