I’ve always expected Google would eventually be better off close sourcing as much as possible (from a business perspective) with others taking over/encroaching on its dominance Android. Especially with the fine Google said it may have to close source as a consequence / “start charging” as a consequence.
Apple controls over half of smartphone profits and they have total control over App Store, basic apps and including who they source for search in Siri and MS completely controls the most widely used desktop OS and bundles all their junk with Windows (Granted EU version has stuff removed to avoid these very penalties, but I believe App Store is still bundled.)
However unlike MS which has direct control over OS sales, Google created the Open Handset Alliance/Android is open source (yeah they bought Android) so it could profit off the search and App Store. If anything they have helped create an alternative to iOS and spurred competition, due to them trying keep their dominance of search in the first place. Plus Google is right that Android is technically free without G-Apps. Amazon clearly is using Android without G-Apps so it’s possible to have alternatives just like many Chinese OEMs due to the Google App Store ban in China.
Not surprising Oracle / Microsoft were part of the Open Search or whatever the group is called in pushing the EU regulators for this. MS was even caught using Google results for Bing searches once and no consequences. Does EU expect OEMs to force Bing down our throats as the alternative.
I totally understand their want for more competition on Search and annoyance with Google for manipulating positions of products listings in searches but I’m not sure this was the right way to deal with the issue.
Last edited:
Jul 20, 2018
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