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byFrank Malenfant ( 5456240 ) writes:
As much as I think these FAANG companies should be forced to pay more taxes, I think Android's business model is a very fair deal. Free OS in exchange of plugging their other free services. Don't Apple phones force you to use iTunes and all sorts of funky Apple cables and expensive iSutff? Nothing prevents us from using other search engines or Amazon's AppStore on an Android Device, and we cas have a wide range of phones at any price.
I'd rather have Google Search preinstalled on all my phones than being f
bybradley13 ( 1118935 ) writes:
Nothing prevents you from using other search engines, BUT: Google's "deal" with phone manufacturers prevents them from pre-installing anything else. Ask your average, non-technical user how to install an alternate search engine on their phone. Ask your average, non-technical user how they can get rid of the ever-present Google search widget. They will have no idea how to do either of those things. Hence, the result: Android --> Google Search
This is a very clever and intentional business practice by Googl
by_Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) writes:
The flaw in the fine is the makes-no-sense standard. Apple has a less open, completely locked down OS environment, but they don't get fined, while Google has a more open and more free for others to use whatever hardware and apps they want OS environment, so they get fined.
They're holding Google to a ridiculous standard while they allow Apple to do way more without comment, only because Google is friendlier to allowing others to bring their own hardware and apps than Apple is. What kind of messed up standard
byAnonymous Coward writes:
I am the last person you would call an Apple fan, but Apple does not have a search engine in play and nor does it license their OS to anyone. So your argument about Apple does not hold any water.
Google on the other hand behaves exactly like Microsoft did with IE. It requires all manufacturers to use google search and preinstall google software. One would have thought that Google could have learned from Microsoft antitrust debacle but I guess not.
by_Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) writes:
Apple gets paid $3 Billion/year for the privilege of being the default search engine on iOS.
Just because they don't happen to own their own, doesn't mean they don't have a financial interest and gain in deciding which one goes on iPhones. I'd guess they have similar deals for any other default app they don't own on iPhones. They certainly make a bunch from their enforced cut of all Apple app store software/book/music/movie sales they do their best to lock all their customers into.
So the argument still stands. It comes down to the licensed competitors vs. walled garden model. Why does Google get fined for licensing their OS and tools for a more open and competitive environment, but Apple is exempted because they have a more proprietary and competitively restricted setup?
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by_Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) writes:
You're an idiot. Google isn't "forcing" manufacturers to use their search engine nor install their software on their hardware either. Any phone maker is free to not enter into a voluntary agreement with Google to use the software Google produces. They can even use Android as a base without using Google's proprietary software (Amazon does). What they can't do is use Google's software and then not comply with the licensing agreement. Except of course, in Europe, where companies who license software for others
by_Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) writes:
I don't particularly like Apple, nor Google, despite carrying a phone from each of them, but I do recognize an unfair and counter-productive antitrust decision (only punishing the more open to increasing competition configuration and agreements) when I see one.
by_Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) writes:
No, Google allows companies to include other search engines and competing browsers, they just have to include Google's when they use Google's software.
The EU defined the relevent "market" as licensable phone OSes. [truthonthemarket.com] That's a ridiculous market definition, which completely excludes, for example, Apple, which has 25% of the EU market for mobile phones.
The EU's antitrust laws don't take into account the affect on consumers, they only look at the structure of the market they define and if the EU thinks they're fai
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