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Google Loses Anti-Monopoly Appeal In Russia Over Android Bundling (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the red-in-tooth-and-claw dept.

An anonymous reader shares an update on Google's ongoing battle with Russian regulators: Google suffered a major blow in Russia on Monday, after the Moscow Arbitration court sided with an earlier ruling that Google had violated the country's anti-trust rules by having its apps and services bundled on Android smartphones. Yandex, a Russia-based search engine, last year sued Google over "anti-competitive practices," saying that Google was abusing its dominant position in the market to hurt competition. In response, Google had noted that Android, which roughly owns 80 percent of the market, is a free and open source operating system. At the time, the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) ruled that Android users must not be catered with Google's homegrown apps and services. The Moscow's Arbitration Court ruling said on Monday that it fully supports the earlier FAS decision. According to an Ars Technica report, "Google will now be required to change its business practices with smartphone makers in Russia, or else face a fine if it fails to adhere to the ruling."

63 comments

  1. WRONG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Abusing a monopoly is only not ok when you're Microsoft. Please get your prejudices right, Russia.

    1. Re:WRONG. by paskie · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yep, seems like exactly what EU did to Microsoft, making it possible to pick your browser inst. of MSIE when installing Windows XP.

      --
      It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end. -Douglas Adams
    2. Re:WRONG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Windows XP wasn't open source; Microsoft controlled every SKU and people weren't legally allowed to make their own.

    3. Re:WRONG. by paskie · · Score: 1

      I can't replace Android with my own system on my phone unless I get lucky and it's rootable either.

      --
      It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end. -Douglas Adams
    4. Re:WRONG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The MS thing in EU must have been limited to XP. Win 7-10 still come with IE; Win10 with Edge; user must come up with alternatives and sometimes fight with MS defaults reinstating themselves during updates in Win10.

    5. Re:WRONG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rooting != unlocking

    6. Re:WRONG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rubbish. As an OEM you could distribute any browser you want on your systems, in fact Netscape had claimed (during valuation) that their browser was shipping pre-installed on 24% of new PCs. In fact I'm pretty sure Gateway used Netscape exclusively as the browser pre-installed on their systems.

    7. Re:WRONG. by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      OEM's, Users, corporates etc etc had full power to replace Internet Explorer and distribute whatever the hell they wanted. You don't need OSS to have choice, conversely you don't need to be a closed source system to restrict choice and options.

    8. Re:WRONG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The MS thing in EU must have been limited to XP. Win 7-10 still come with IE; Win10 with Edge; user must come up with alternatives and sometimes fight with MS defaults reinstating themselves during updates in Win10.

      No, there are special versions of Windows to comply with the EU ruling and exist for all post XP versions, They are denoted with an N, e.g. Windows 10 N. No one wants or uses them including those in the EU, but they exist for all desktop versions of the OS. All these versions do is show how out of touch with reality the EU ruling was as even with choice users didn't actually want it.

    9. Re:WRONG. by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      To be fair https://play.google.com/store/.... All indications are people are fully aware of the google store and what is available. For Yandex to be default is something Yandex needs to negotiate with phone sellers and Russian Telecoms rather than with Google. Likely if the Russian government wants change, they need to produce a Government internet search engine based around publicly defined algorithms and make it the legal default, likely all countries should do pretty much the same thing. The huge bias in everything, the spin that Google can load into search responses, is huge and should be challenged, it is very unhealthy for free speech and the internet. The effective reaction to that should not be half hearted or buried in psychopathic privatised profit greed. For equal access under a defined set of search algorithmic rules, it needs to be publicly managed and set as the required default for all countries, each to their own, what each end user chooses to do beyond that is their own choice. Likely a combination of search and directory browse.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    10. Re:WRONG. by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      The exact same thing could have been said for chrome and firefox and opera et al in the EU. Any of them could have negotiated deals with OEM's or stores to ship their browser as the default. Basically this is an identical situation to the MS one and the government are acting in a similar fashion, it is not up to government to set the standard, it is there responsibility to police those that are abusing their position.

      having said that I think both this case and the anti trust cases against MS were and are utter bullshit driven purely by political and corporate interests at the time.

    11. Re:WRONG. by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

      Could internet explorer be uninstalled from the machine?

    12. Re:WRONG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except I had no problems using Mozilla before that ruling. It was a cash grab, and little else.

  2. Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now there's a joke if I ever heard one.

    1. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed... while I think the court is correct (Android is a de facto monopoly in many countries and Google isn't shy about leveraging it to push their other services), this decision falls in the "even a stopped clock" category.

      Of course, I'm sure the bribe..err..fine will be low enough that Google won't actually have to change anything.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    2. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2

      Now there's a joke if I ever heard one.

      How about this one: In Soviet Russia, Antitrust monopolizes you!

    3. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      The thing is, in a country like Thailand, Google can just say: "OK, we're complying with your ruling and turning off all services". And in a day or two the ruling will be reversed once people stop being able to look their favorite YouTube videos and read their email.

      However, there are homegrown replacements for pretty much all of the Google tools in Russia. Yandex has (quite decent) search, maps (including street view), email, calendaring and so on.

    4. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      I don't think it even fits into the stopped clock thing to be honest. It's easy to install third party app stores or bypass the Play Store to install apps, it's perfectly legal to fork Android, and Google, as the principle developer of the project, does actually get some rights from having that status.

      There's no mandate that forces companies to sign with Google. Amazon would be delighted for mobile phone makers to partner with it. Google is, for better or worse, what people actually want.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    5. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      Part of the issue, as I understand it, is it's sort of an "all or nothing" arrangement.

      If I'm selling Android phones, I can't pre-install Google Maps without also installing Google's Search Bar and various other Google apps. So if I want to install Google Maps and install Yandex's Search Bar, I'm SOL.

    6. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      What search bar? You mean the one found in Google's stock launcher? Hardly any OEMs actually use that. Google does pay them commissions for searches done in their own launchers (and other apps) though, which is why their launchers might have a search bar, but there isn't a requirement for it to be there. HTC M9 doesn't have one, for example.

      As for Google Maps and Play Services, Android would break if they weren't present. For example, I use Endomondo to track my cycling, and Endomondo uses the Google Maps API for all kinds of stuff that it does. If you pulled out Google Maps, you'd invariably break Endomondo as well as a ton of other location aware apps. You'd also break just about every app there is if you removed Play Services.

    7. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      As for Google Maps and Play Services, Android would break if they weren't present.

      I remember Microsoft saying the same about Internet Explorer.

    8. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by exomondo · · Score: 1

      And Apple saying the same thing about stock apps on the iPhone:

      "This is a more complex issue than it first appears. There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone. If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone"

    9. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no google really can't. Hence why the censor content in places like Thailand. The billions of lost income to them far outweighs their any moral highground they claim to take.

    10. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The search bar is not a part of the stock Android launcher. If you install gapps, you install a number of Google applications, including Google Search.

    11. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think it even fits into the stopped clock thing to be honest. It's easy to install third party app stores or bypass the Play Store to install apps, it's perfectly legal to fork Android, and Google, as the principle developer of the project, does actually get some rights from having that status.

      There's no mandate that forces companies to sign with Google. Amazon would be delighted for mobile phone makers to partner with it. Google is, for better or worse, what people actually want.

      Sorry, this almost reads just like a 90's Microsoft apologist. You're free to partner with IBM, nobody's forced to buy Windows, you can make your own OS, etc.

      I disagree that being free or forkable washes anyone's hands of abusive bundling. Dumping and subsidizing are classic anti-competitive tricks after all.

    12. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Android is a de facto monopoly in many countries and Google

      How is an open source project a defacto monopoly? By it's nature it has no market power.

      Google services are a defacto monopoly. People don't give a shit about Android underneath and the vast majority of handset vendors customise the shit out of it to the point where in some cases it's barely recognisable. Monopoly is attributed to Google Play services and that alone. But that's what people pay for so it makes no sense to unbundle it anymore than the request for Apple to sell a handset without the App Store on it.

    13. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

      Agreed... while I think the court is correct (Android is a de facto monopoly in many countries and Google isn't shy about leveraging it to push their other services), this decision falls in the "even a stopped clock" category.

      Of course, I'm sure the bribe..err..fine will be low enough that Google won't actually have to change anything.

      Depends on who owns the Russian-based search engine that opened the charges against Google in the first place.

      If it's a Putin crony, for example, then google might be SOL

      --
      blindly antisocialist = antisocial
    14. Re:Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      That might be true, I haven't used the stock launcher in a long time. However last time I did, it was present. They didn't have it in the Google Now launcher (if you swiped far left you'd see a search though) which I think may be the default launcher for Nexus devices these days. I'm not sure though because the first thing I do is install Nova launcher and have it pull all of my layout settings from google drive. There isn't a google search bar to be found anywhere on my phone.

  3. FOSS doesn't matter here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What matters is if Google is using its position in one market to gain an unfair advantage in another. Google should be able to bundle their apps, but it should be easy to uninstall all apps (yes, including crapware added by vendors) and install a different OS. That should apply everywhere. FOSS doesn't matter here. And Google Mobile Services isn't FOSS.

    1. Re:FOSS doesn't matter here by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      The crapware installed by AT&T annoys me far more than the crapware from Google. At least some of the Google apps are useful.

      What annoys me about Google is that whatever you're using today may be gone tomorrow.

    2. Re:FOSS doesn't matter here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have an old Samsung S2, there isn't much system memory (2GB), and that usually gets soaked up with all the Google updates for their applications Google+, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Store. Add on something like Skype, and you end up having to uninstall applications to get the memory space to install other applications.

    3. Re:FOSS doesn't matter here by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      They both annoy me. I don't like the google apps myself and there are just as many of them at the AT&T stuff, just named differently so that they're not all grouped together alphabetically.

    4. Re:FOSS doesn't matter here by JazzLad · · Score: 1

      What annoys me about Google is that whatever you're using today may be gone tomorrow.

      I checked Google Answer's and here's the GOOG-411 - you're completely wrong. A friend of mine just Google Wave's me that he was thinking about moving his pictures from Picnik to Picasa, because as he likes both, he heard on Orkut that the former might get Panoramio integration & he likes that better than Picasa Web Albums. Me? Nah, I don't do much with photos myself, I just keep up with Slashdot via Google Reader and sometimes my iGoogle page - the few photos I sort I can use Google Desktop to manage. now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to help someone via Aardvark. I get good money via BebaPay that way.

      --
      "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
  4. Snowden will save us! by CajunArson · · Score: 1, Funny

    Fortunately, Super-Snowden is already in Russia and will save Google from those bad, evil NSA types that run the Russian kleptocracy!

    And don't forget Snowden's side-kick: Vladdy-doo, with the famous catch-phrase: PUTIN POWER!

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
  5. In Soviet Russia... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

    Android Googles YOU!

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    1. Re:In Soviet Russia... by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      In Soviet Russia... Android Googles YOU!"

      Although to be fair, it's not just Russia.

    2. Re:In Soviet Russia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the United states, you have a choice of NSAndroid , FBIos, CIApple, or CIAlphabet.

      and their saying is "We hope you are gay because your backdoor is open to us"

  6. Good ruling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Android is only "technically" open source, in reality the platform is tightly controlled by Google and its allies.

    I think these quasi-monopolies should all be destroyed and every platform should be forced to be open and always let the user choose 3rd party application repositories out of the box.

    1. Re:Good ruling by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think these quasi-monopolies should all be destroyed and every platform should be forced to be open...

      But you know what they say: coordinating OSS is like herding cats. Sometimes dominant companies are needed to form and enforce quasi-standards. I believe there's a happy medium somewhere between an MS-style monopoly and 40 or so OS distros that require too much tinkering to work with existing software and tools.

      OSS versus "corporate" sometimes reminds me of "capitalism versus socialism". The best systems seem to be a compromise between the two. The extremes of either end are highly unpleasant (for most).

      Yes, I am raining on the idealism parade here, and going yin/yang/balance on you.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:Good ruling by mikael · · Score: 1

      That's what many city councils discovered. If all services are run by the council, the government procurement suppliers take over. If all services are run privately, they create a monopoly and the corporations charge what they like. Keep 50% of work in-house and out-source the other 50%, and you get to know what the real costs are, while still having some competition.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    3. Re:Good ruling by vakuona · · Score: 1

      I could say the same about many other pieces of OSS software.

      Linux is only technically open source. In reality what goes into the kernel is tightly controlled by Torvalds.

      GCC is only technically open source. In reality what goes into GCC is tightly controlled by the GCC steering committee.

      Open source doesn't mean that everyone gets to control every piece of software. It means anyone can take that software, makes improvements to it, and release new versions without needing approval from the original authors.

    4. Re:Good ruling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are correct, but I think your wording of "only technically open source" is misleading. Your last paragraph is absolutely correct. What Open Source (and indeed Free Software) *doesn't* do is impact branding. So, in practice, Linus tends to control what goes into the mainstream Linux build. He also controls the trademark for Linux (unless he assigned it to an organization -- I forget). Mozilla owns and actively protects the trademark for Firefox, which is why we have a popular browser, based on Firefox, called Iceweasel. Mozilla decides what can and can't go into Firefox branded builds. If you don't like it, you have to call it something else.

      This is not a perversion of Open Source, or Free Software. This is intended by design. Free software is intended to give you freedom to run, inspect, change and distribute software. It isn't intended to force control away from its original authors.

  7. Unbundle GOOGLE! by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    and while you are at it stop the fucking carriers and handset makers from changing the damn OS so badly. HTC sense should be an option I have to download, not something shoved down my throat. and the baked in Apps that can not be deleted.... yeah stop that bullshit.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Unbundle GOOGLE! by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't mind bundled apps so much if they could be uninstalled. My phone came with NFL Mobile because Verizon was likely paid money to put that on all of their phones. I don't like football, though, so I disabled it. It's still taking up 750KB, though. Why not let me just delete it if I don't like it/need it at all? I know I could root the phone and then delete it, but you shouldn't need root access to do this.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re:Unbundle GOOGLE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why, if you like Android, you buy a Nexus device and get a pure experience. I buy iPhones for a similar reason. I don't want anything on the phone besides the core OS and apps unless I choose otherwise. I also happen to be an abject minimalist, so there is nothing out there I would use anyway.

    3. Re:Unbundle GOOGLE! by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      I buy iPhones for a similar reason.

      Yeah. If only I could get rid of that Stocks app, or Voice Memos, or Newsstand, or the Tips app...

    4. Re:Unbundle GOOGLE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I buy iPhones for a similar reason.

      Yeah. If only I could get rid of that Stocks app, or Voice Memos, or Newsstand, or the Tips app...

      If they were Yahoo Stocks, Voice Memos brought to you by Frito-Lay, Tips by Twin Peaks, Newsstand: a News Corp. application, then maybe you'd have something here.

  8. Google should stop providing the source. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And make tighten things down to their own phones/operating system like Apple. Then those that whine about being anti competitive can go make their own.

  9. OR WHAT? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe Putin will take shirt off and flex sagging flesh? Scare shit out of Google.ru4rea!

    1. Re:OR WHAT? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd rather see an aging real man than a pussy on a bicycle with a helmet. Say what you will about Putin, but he's a tough bastard and willing to do what it takes, especially when it comes to ridding the world of islamic trash.

    2. Re:OR WHAT? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think putin is attacking islamists for any reason other than the fact that they sell cheap oil, you might be a bit delusional.

  10. Absurd corruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is actually going on (for the uninitiated) is that Yandex has gotten their buddies in government to help fight its competition.

    And for anyone naive enough to think "anti-monopoly actions" are legitimate, consider the legal actions against Microsoft over bundling Internet Explorer and how that turned out... Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer couldn't save it from being decimated by Firefox and Chrome. IE had it's user base for a time because there was a brief period where it really was the best browser.

    1. Re:Absurd corruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep it is amazing how many people have such short memories or look with rose coloured glasses in the past. When IE dominated it was without question the better browser, people were abandoning netscapes buggy pile of shit in droves and it had nothing to do with monopolistic practises, the push was from politicians that were directly owned by MS competitors. The same will likely be true here with google and yandex. I despise Android on phones as being akin to what netscape was, buggy, inconsistent and generally a dreadful user experience, but people choose it and it is there choice, governments should stay the fuck out of it unless the are doing something truly dirty.

  11. Smartphone makers in Russia by radarskiy · · Score: 1

    Who makes smartphones in Russia to be affected?

    1. Re:Smartphone makers in Russia by billakay · · Score: 1

      Who makes smartphones in Russia to be affected?

      There are some local makes, like YotaPhone, but virtually all popular smartphones are represented. The iPhone is a cultural icon in Russia. On the Android side, Samsungs are ubiquitous. My guess is that this applies to foreign phones imported for the Russian market as well as Russian manufactured devices.

  12. AOSP by short · · Score: 1

    Android Open Source Project does not bundle anything, particularly not any app store. TFA does not mention this, what is the court decision based on?

  13. This shows everything that is wrong with Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can't buy politicians the American way: Google 'beats Goldman Sachs' in political campaign donations Oct 18, 2014 - Google has ramped up its political contributions and spent more money on political campaigns this year than global investment bank, Goldman Sachs https://www.rt.com/usa/197104-...

    1. Re:This shows everything that is wrong with Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google under scrutiny over lobbying influence on Congress ... The Guardian Dec 18, 2015 - Google has made political donations to 162 members of the US Congress in the latest election cycle http://www.theguardian.com/us-...

    2. Re:This shows everything that is wrong with Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google under scrutiny over lobbying influence on Congress ... The Guardian Dec 18, 2015 - Google has made political donations to 162 members of the US Congress in the latest election cycle http://www.theguardian.com/us-...

      like it or not if you want to survive those are the games you have to play. MS adamantly refused to do such political donations and it led to their anti trust case. Now you will find MS donate as much or more than everyone else. You are either in with the politicians or your competitors will be and then you are a target. It is the way the American system works.

    3. Re:This shows everything that is wrong with Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sad but true, Anon.

  14. There are far worse offenders, this is a cash grab by kuzb · · Score: 1

    So why aren't they going after apple, which is far more closed and restrictive than android? With android you can just get the source and build your own ecosystem on top of it if you want. With iOS, it's their way or the highway. Apple's iphone IS a monopoly, far more than Android ever could be.

    For those arguing that Android isn't open, or requires google's strict approval, please explain the hundreds of custom android builds out there - almost none of which sought permission from google.

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
  15. Why doesn't Yandex make a phone then? by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    I don't understand the gripe here... don't most phones come with a bunch of software? And what's stopping users from just picking a different browser from Play? If Yandex is so upset over the unfair competition, why don't they build their own phones and OS?

  16. does the same apply to apple? by SkunkPussy · · Score: 1

    There are a bunch of apple apps and services supplied bundled with their phones

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    SURELY NOT!!!!!