Google today introduced its answer to the european Union on the case of Android, the open source operating system that dominates the smartphone market finished, on the 15th of April last, in the crosshairs of the Commission. According to Mountain View, contrary to what is claimed by the european executive, the Android has not harmed competition, on the contrary, has increased”, and the reason is simple: “no manufacturer is obliged to pre-install any Google app on an Android phone”, which is still free and free.
The accusation
According to the european Commission, Google has “abused its dominant position” — that is, the share of the market, huge, Android — by imposing restrictions on manufacturers of devices that use this operating system, and the operators of mobile networks”. The three contested points, as reported by the Economist a few months ago. It is true, writes Brussels, that a handset manufacturer can install Android without a app of Google, but to ensure that anyone can use the mobile phone just bought is useful and convenient that there is pre-installed, for example, the store of Google App, the Google Play. These “additions” to Android brings with it rules that, according to the Commission, configure a position of abuse: “manufacturers who want to preinstall Google Play should add to the strength of a Google Search [...]; if they want to take part in the scheme of revenue from the Google advertising must pre-install Google Se arch in an exclusive way; if they pre-install the Google app on only one of the de models, should install the standard version of Android on all of their models”. As reported by the agency Reuters, the Eu could fine Google” for this case; the fine could theoretically reach the figure of stellar 7.4 billion dollars. Topics that Kent Walker, vice president and general counsel of Google, commented in a split In the first place, says Google, is fake what the Commission claims, saying that Apple and Mountain View are not in competition between them: “89% of those who responded to the market investigation initiated by the Commission has confirmed that the two companies are in competition with one another, and to ignore competition with Apple means it does not catch the distinctive feature of the current competitive scenario of the smartphone”.
The danger of fragmentation
Walker rejects then the parallel with the case-Microsoft (the mega-fine from € 2.2 billion that the Commission comminò in 2000): now it only takes a few moments to download a search engine other than Google, and the fact that the percentages of use, among those with phones with Android or other operating systems, the Google Search are comparable indicates that the freedom of choice is not affected. According to Google, the Commission underestimates “the importance of the developers and the dangers of fragmentation in the mobile ecosystem”. To ensure that there is a version common and consistent operating system and thus avoid developers with the expenditure of time and resources needed to create multiple versions of their app, “we work with hardware manufacturers to create a minimum level of compatibility between Android devices”. According to Google, those agreements are “voluntary”.
Usable out of the box
according to Google, the “suite” of apps offer (and not set) allows those who buy an Android phone to use it just after it is discarded — just like the Apple iPhone or the Windows Phone of Microsoft. Indeed, for Google in these two cases, the choice of app to be installed is much lower: “The consumer can disable each of our app at any time and, as a unique feature, the hardware manufacturers and carriers can pre-install the app competing with one of our”. Finally, Android does not impose a limit on the number of competitors that can be installed together with those created by Mountain View. In short,
November 10, 2016 (change the 10 November 2016 | 17:48)
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