Google Hit With Antitrust Lawsuit Over Default Search on Android Phones

itwbennett writes: "A class-action lawsuit filed Thursday (PDF) accuses Google of strong-arming device manufacturers into making its search engine the default on Android devices, driving up the cost of those devices and hurting consumers. The suit does not argue that device manufacturers entered Mobile Application Distribution Agreements involuntarily, but that the market power of Google compels them to. 'Because consumers want access to Google's products, and due to Google's power in the U.S. market for general handheld search, Google has unrivaled market power over smartphone and tablet manufacturers,' says the suit."

Comments

Oh the humanity!

[LordLucless]

Because there is demand for a thing, business are forced to deliver it. Quick, someone stop it!

Re:Oh the humanity!

[spacepimp]

They already have done this. There were Android phones where Verizon was paid to have Bing as the default.

Re:Oh the humanity!

[Noah Haders]

no, but it's tied in through business contracts as part of the handset alliance, which is the exact point of this suit.

Lawyers looking for a payout

[bradley13]

Note that the plaintiffs are not the manufacturers, but two random owners of Android phones. This is nothing but lawyers abusing the U.S. legal system, trying to extort a settlement out of a big company.

When is the U.S. going to get around to tort reform?

Lawsuit requests paid placement

[tepples]

What this lawsuit requests is that operators of other search engines be allowed to pay phone makers and carriers to make a particular search provider the default on a particular make and model.

Re:I remember this with M$

[NecroPuppy]

How do you change the default search functionality in Android?

Have you tried Googling for that information? :)

Well.... yeah?

[ilsaloving]

So... you buy an GOOGLE Android phone. You buy one that has GOOGLE apps preloaded, because you wanted them. But then you're upset that GOOGLE search is the default, and it requires effort to change that? .....what?

Nah, it's ok that Google is strongarming manufacturers to not include 3rd party apps that compete with Google's.

It's perfectly acceptable that Google is stripping away privacy features from their phones.

BUT DAMN IT I WANT MY CHOICE OF INTERNET SEARCH!!111eleventy!

*facepalm*

The stupid... it burns!

Re:How is this anti-trust?

[squiggleslash]

I'm not sure there's any specific demand for Google search per-se on mobile devices. For a search feature, perhaps, but if a phone were to be shipped with Bing installed and Google search disabled, few people would notice beyond the non-search features that for some reason Google bundles into their search app.

I disabled Google Search on my phone a while ago. The reason, bizarrely, is that voice dialing is implemented by that app, and voice dialing has become so awful lately (unusable, actually) that combined with my temper when I get frustrated I consider it a dangerous feature to have even available as an option when I'm driving.

Yes, you have to disable Google Search to disable voice dialing. No, that doesn't make any sense.

But you can do it. And the only thing you notice related to search itself is that the largely unnecessary search box disappears from the Android main screen. Google Now obviously disappears too. And the next time you reboot, if you installed the Bing app, you'll find the search box has reappeared, only now it searches with Bing. Which is odd.

And as someone who now uses a phone with Bing search installed instead of Google, I can honestly say that there's no advantage one has over the other. Not when it comes to actual search, anyway. And I doubt my mother would notice either.