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Google Appeals $5 Billion EU Fine In Android Case (wsj.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal: Alphabet's Google on Tuesday said it filed an appeal of the European Union's $4.97 billion antitrust fine (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source) for allegedly abusing the dominance of its Android operating system for mobile phones. But Google said it has no plans to ask for so-called interim measures to pause application of the decision. Without further action, Google will have to meet a deadline at the end of October to end the behavior the EU says is anticompetitive or face additional fines of up to 5% of average daily global revenue for each day it doesn't comply. Google had promised that it would appeal the decision when the European Commission, the bloc's antitrust regulator, delivered it in mid-July. The commission said that Google broke the block's competition laws in part by strong-arming phone makers that use its free Android operating system to pre-install its namesake search engine, from which the company makes the bulk of its advertising revenue.
In the Android case, the European Commission has ordered Google to stop making phone manufacturers pre-install its search app and the Chrome web browser if they want to pre-install Google's Play store, which is the main way to download Android apps. The bloc also ordered Google to end restrictions that discourage manufacturers from selling devices that run unofficial versions of Android. It contends both restrictions illegally constrained competing search engines and operating systems. Google has argued that Android, which is free for manufacturers to use, has increased competition among smartphone makers, lowering prices for consumers. The company has said the allegation that it stymied competing apps is false because manufacturers typically install many rival apps on Android devices, and consumers can easily download others.
In the Android case, the European Commission has ordered Google to stop making phone manufacturers pre-install its search app and the Chrome web browser if they want to pre-install Google's Play store, which is the main way to download Android apps. The bloc also ordered Google to end restrictions that discourage manufacturers from selling devices that run unofficial versions of Android. It contends both restrictions illegally constrained competing search engines and operating systems. Google has argued that Android, which is free for manufacturers to use, has increased competition among smartphone makers, lowering prices for consumers. The company has said the allegation that it stymied competing apps is false because manufacturers typically install many rival apps on Android devices, and consumers can easily download others.
The bloc also ordered Google to end restrictions that discourage manufacturers from selling devices that run unofficial versions of Android.
So you make a free, open source system and the antitrust laws bring additional requirements on you? Google may very well say "OK, it's all proprietary from now on, go fuck yourself. No unofficial versions of Android at all, are you happy now?". Why would they have to put up with this absurdity when say Microsoft has never been bothered with it?
Is that what the incompetent bureaucrats are aiming for? After all, even the parliament approved a stupid copyright law recently, the EU is really making some big mistakes these days.
Is there a monopoly or a trust when you don't have to use Android devices?
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
not sure why this got modded down. I would have modded it interesting
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
It is not Microsoft's fault that no computer maker offers a Linux-ready machine, at least not that I've heard rumors of.
Google, on the other hand, specifically tells companies to install this, this and this if they want access to the main feature of the 'free' OS.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
I bet that even if Google complied fully, that all of the things that the EU commission is complaining about, will still get installed. Manufacturers have a duty to put out a piece of hardware with appropriate software installed that will provide the consumer with the most value and present the least trouble to that consumer. Google search, and chrome, which are everywhere and well supported are a good base to start with.
It is not Microsoft's fault that no computer maker offers a Linux-ready machine, at least not that I've heard rumors of.
Willful ignorance is not a good look. No Slashdotter is actually unaware of the fact that there are Linux-specific vendors.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Oh yes it most certainly is. I'm not sure how their OEM licensing policy works now but at one point they prohibited OEM sellers from selling machines with no OS because they claimed that people would just use that option and pirate Windows. Dell eventually got around that by shipping computers with FreeDOS but for a while it made it difficult for Linux users to avoid paying the "Windows Tax". Microsoft's OEM policy also prevented OEM sellers from selling machines that were configured to dual-boot. That single-handedly killed any chance of success for BeOS and significantly reduced adoption of Linux. Any OEM sellers that violated these terms risked having their ability to sell OEM Windows licenses stripped which would mean that they would have to buy full-priced licenses. That alone would make their machines so expensive it would be almost suicide to even attempt angering the Microsoft gods.
What are you talking about? Google services including the Play Store are not at all open source. The EU has no problem with Android (misleading headline). You must be trolling if you think Microsoft has never been bothered by the EU over antitrust suits related to bundling web browsers.
Americans believe they actually enjoy the constitutional right to be ripped off by large corporations, and so see the EU as evil. Its called "cultural difference".
If the EU was really "all powerful" it would not need more money. As it is, many of us think that Google needs a lot less of our money.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
Anyone who has flashed a custom ROM to a phone should know it isn't as simple as installing an apk (Android app file) to add a working Google Play store if it's missing to begin with. Or it hadn't been last I tried this (year or two ago now probably).
Yes, if users can do what a manufacturer didn't after buying the phone then I see less issue with this type of requirement by Google. It'd be interesting if they forced the same thing on users (after fixing the process). I've never seen one app forcibly install another.
Google services including the Play Store are not at all open source.
Having attempted to find some of the source code for those Google services, I can also attest they are closed source and not publicly available.
Money grab. That's what this is.
And because /. is infested with EUSSR socialists, you get downmodded. Just like this post will be.
Let's face it, the EUSSR is nothing more than a open market hating near-communist entity. I welcome the day that Google says: Fuck It, we'll stop doing business in Europe. Watch how those fucked up politicians start whining. As well as the poor fuckers that didn't vote for them (remember, the EU was created against the voters wishes).
I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
That single-handedly killed any chance of success for BeOS and significantly reduced adoption of Linux.
BeOS' one and only chance for survival was being picked up by Apple, and then Jobs happened and BeOS died. Hopefully Haiku will resurrect the concept, although it has something like ten times the hardware requirements that BeOS did...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"