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Google May Have To Make Major Changes To Android in Response To a Forthcoming Fine in Europe (washingtonpost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up-next dept.

Google could face a new record penalty this month from European regulators for forcing its search and Web-browsing tools on the makers of Android-equipped smartphones and other devices, potentially resulting in major changes to the world's most widely deployed mobile operating system. From a report: The punishment from Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's competition chief, is expected to include a fine raging into the billions of dollars, according to people familiar with her thinking, marking the second time in as many years that the region's antitrust authorities have found that Google threatens corporate rivals and consumers. At the heart of the E.U.'s looming decision are Google's policies that pressure smartphone and tablet manufacturers that use Google's Android operating system to pre-install the tech giant's own apps. In the E.U.'s eyes, device makers such as HTC and Samsung face an anti-competitive choice: Set Google Search as the default search service and offer Google's Chrome browser, or lose access to Android's popular app store. Lacking that portal, owners of Android smartphones or tablets can't easily download games or other apps -- or services from Google's competitors offered by third-party developers.

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  1. I am APK the great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I am APK the great "LORD OF HOSTS", a.k.a. AlecStaar or Alexander Peter Kowalski.

    I am the godlike creator of various GUI front-ends for other people's configuration files.

    Calling people ne'er-do-wells or Jealous JOWIES is how I think I win every argument

    When people state the truth about me I get really mad and accuse them of projecting which is something I do all the time.

    Don't call me out on anything unless you are willing to prove you too can write some strings to a file programmatically

    Spamming and being a general pain in the ass is what I do

    Listen as I relive my glory days of being a college athlete in the early 80s

    Bask in my greatness as I can do a ping as a non root user.

    Watch as I whine about my work being flagged as malware by anti-virus software.

    Witness my descent into madness

    APK