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Competitors Complain To EC That Free Android Is a 'Trojan Horse'

Posted by timothy on from the takes-exactly-one-to-know-exactly-one dept.

First time accepted submitter DW100 writes "Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle have taken it upon themselves to moan to the European Commission about Google's Android dominance, which they say is an underhand bid to control the entire mobile market. The firms are part of the FairSearch group, which has just filed a complaint that Google is using Android as a 'Trojan Horse' to take control of the mobile market and all the related advertising revenue. Microsoft would of course know all about this, being at the end of several similar anti-competitive complaints in the past."

7 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. News Flash! by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Company makes billions of dollars; wants more. Competitors not happy.

    Now on to how Justin Bieber's pet monkey was confiscated at an airport...

    --
    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    1. Re:News Flash! by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Company makes billions of dollars; wants more. Competitors not happy.

      Translation: "They're doing what we would do, but they're a lot better at it than we are."

      You never know how the EC will react, tho.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:News Flash! by Omestes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Again: the complaint is that Google uses their market power on Android to get their users onto their services

      Isn't that the game of all mobile operating systems these days? iOS tries to leverage you into their universe by corralling you into their shop system, but here you can't easily escape. MS is hoping for the same thing, hooking you into their universe, with no escape. Amazon is doing the same, with their gimped version of Android. At least Google allows you to escape, and install apps from other sources, and avoid using their services (which obviously they'd prefer you use, but they are still mostly optional san third party shenanigans).

      There isn't a single good guy in the mobile universe. But Google is probably as close as you'd get right now.

      --
      A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
  2. So, 'free' is bad? by SternisheFan · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the article: The FairSearch complaint boils down to Google using Android as a ‘Trojan Horse’ to sign up advertising partners, monopolise the mobile market and control user data by letting mobile hardware manufacturers use its operating system free of charge.

    The group is concerned that as the online advertising market shifts increasingly to mobile platforms with the rise in smartphones and tablets, Google is giving itself an unfair head start.

    “Google achieved its dominance in the smartphone operating system market by giving Android to device-makers for ‘free’. But in reality, Android phone makers who want to include must-have Google apps such as Maps, YouTube or Play are required to pre-load an entire suite of Google mobile services and to give them prominent default placement on the phone,” the group argued.

    “This disadvantages other providers, and puts Google’s Android in control of consumer data on a majority of smartphones shipped today. Google’s predatory distribution of Android at below-cost makes it difficult for other providers of operating systems to recoup investments in competing with Google’s dominant mobile platform.”

    So, this is 'wrong' because Google doesn't charge for their OS? Man, MS is getting blatantly desperate sounding. Make an OS that people will want to use, then you might even get them to buy it!

    1. Re:So, 'free' is bad? by lord_mike · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then how does Amazon get away with Android without all the Google stuff on their Kindle Fire?

  3. Terrifying, truly. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google's nefarious release of Android-related material under the 'Google Public License'(which allows you to use the code; but requires that all web activity be logged and sent to Google) was truly a masterstroke for market dominance.

    Oh, wait, you mean that Android is a mixture of Apache and GPL components, and Google has had somewhat indifferent luck with preventing other vendors(Amazon, Samsung, etc.) from quite successfully using it for their own purposes while cutting them out of the picture entirely? Oh, um, never mind then...

  4. Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle = Funny by houbou · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think that Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle are going in the stand-up comedy business. Because this complaint is certainly the funniest one I've seen.

    Open Source is more popular commercially than they are. Gee, who would have thought of that!

    For years, I've always advocated that Microsoft should release DOS and then Windows for free at the very least for non-business use. If you need support, buy it from Microsoft.

    They've been scoffing at open source for years and now, it's proven to work and its working on devices such as phones and tablets which are consumed even more than PCs, which is why they are sorely pissed and scared.

    Eventually all of this means that tablets, phones and new generations of portable laptops/netbooks will have the powers of PCs and more and won't be running on Windows or any other proprietary platforms.

    But that's called competition, and well, the thing is, while Google may be the leaders of Android, as we can plainly see, Android is free and customized by all as they see fit, so, it's not an actually anti-competitive at all.

    Good Luck to Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle, for they will need it! :)