Google attempts to defend Android in European Commission antitrust case
Summary
“The Android mobile operating system helped usher in the era of cheap smartphones and gives consumers greater choice over apps than Apple’s iOS, Google argued today in a response to an antitrust complaint from European regulators,” Tom Brant reports for PC Magazine. “Google insisted its practice of pre-installing its own suite of apps on Android smartphones and tablets is easily reversible by end users and doesn’t prevent device manufacturers from pre-installing their own rival apps.” “The filing was an official answer to a European Commission investigation into anti-competitive Android practices opened last April,” Brant reports. “The Commission is focusing on three potentially illegal practices: Google’s requirement that manufacturers exclusively pre-install its own apps; preventing developers from installing ‘Android forks;’ and bundling of certain services to hinder rivals.” “It’s basically an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you go with AOSP and launch with no Google services, or choose Google and bundle all the apps its requires,” Brant reports. “If Google loses, it could face a penalty of $7.5 billion, or 10 percent of its annual revenue…” Read more in the full article here.