The European commission has fined Google £3.8bn for anti-competitive behaviour regarding its Android mobile operating system. It’s looking to force the company to cede some control, but is it too little too late?
The record fine is not to be dismissed, but for Google it is the EU’s suggested remedy – the prising loose of its tight grip around Android – that may have the largest impact.
The underlying Android operating system used on more than 2bn devices worldwide is open source and therefore free to use as manufacturers see fit. But the Android that most in western markets see is actually a combination of that underlying open source system with services licensed for free from Google.
The Google Play Store is the largest gateway to third-party apps available on Android and is considered an essential part of the Android experience for mainstream consumers.
The Play Store is free to use under licence from Google, but comes with a set of conditions smartphone manufacturers must meet. The most important of these, and the one the EC has a problem with, is the requirement to set Google as the default search engine and the pre-installation of certain apps, including Google Chrome, YouTube and the Google search app. Google also dictates that some of the pre-installed apps be placed on the homescreen.
Users can delete these apps from their homescreen, choose to change the default search engine and switch out Google’s apps for alternatives, but many do not and are instead drawn to Android because of these services.
Geoff Blaber from analyst firm CCS Insight said: “Although an open source operating system, Android was introduced as a vehicle for Google’s licensable apps and services and to extend the Google business model as engagement shifted to mobile. In this context, Android has been incredibly successful.”
That is the reason it is licensed free to manufacturers, and ultimately the reason devices that cost less than £50 can exist. The more eyeballs the Android-maker can secure on its own products, or Google-fed advertising in third-party apps, the more money it can make from its core business model of selling and displaying ads.
The consequence of this strategy is that competing search engines and apps are effectively shut out of the dominant mobile platform, which is what the EC has a problem with.
What the EC is demanding is that Google cede some control over Android in its licensing. The EC is demanding that manufacturers should be free to use Android and include the Google Play Store without having to pre-install the Google Search app and Chrome.
It’s a similar strategy to that employed by the EC in 2004, when it forced Microsoft to release a version of Windows without Windows Media Player and later offer a browser choice screen, which allowed users to select a web browser other than Internet Explorer.
But as with the Media Player-free version of Windows, Windows XP N, for which there was no demand, consumers are unlikely to buy a version of Android without Google’s services.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
