The European competition commission is gearing up to charge Google with giving unfair prominence to its own apps like search and maps in supplementary software licensing deals it strikes with mobile phone makers running its Android operating system, four sources familiar with the process said on Monday.Google generated an estimated $11 billion (€9.73 billion) last year from sales of ads running on Android phones featuring Google apps. Android has become the dominant software in recent years, running most of the world’s smartphones.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-eu-google-antitrust-idUKKCN0XF0PIAlso see:EU investigating Google’s contracts with phone makers, operators [IDG]
The European Commission is still investigating whether Google’s Android operating system and Amazon’s contracts with e-book publishers have broken antitrust rules, its Competition Commissioner said Monday in Amsterdam.Margrethe Vestager’s remarks come amid reports that the European Commission could formally press charges in the form of a “statement of objections “against Google as early as this week. Her speech suggests that formal charges into both Google’s Android operating system and Amazon could still take some time.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/598194/eu-investigating-google-contracts-phone-makers-operators/