Posts tagged Europe
Here’s What Google’s Labeled Search Results Could Look Like in Europe
Apr 26th
The European Commission is now seeking feedback on Google’s cosmetic search result changes that aim to settle a years-long antitrust investigation. The EC also revealed some images illustrating what Google’s results might soon look like.
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Is Google’s Antitrust Settlement Offer To Europe Dead On Arrival?
Apr 24th
The European Union has “accepted” Google’s formal antitrust settlement proposal — subject to “market testing.” As a practical matter that means EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia is circulating it among Google’s critics and competitors for…
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Microsoft’s Complaint Against Android In Europe Is All Kinds Of Stupid
Apr 9th
What happens when a new company comes into your market, drives down prices, iterates better and faster and ends up kicking your butt around the room and taking all of your customers?
Well, you sue them, of course.
That is what a coalition of companies under the moniker FairSearch.org has been doing to Google for the past several years. Its members include bitter rivals like Microsoft, Oracle, Nokia, Expedia and TripAdvisor that have long complained that Google has a monopoly on search, online data and advertising. Now, FairSearch is going after Google’s Android mobile operating system with a new complaint to the European Commission. The claim? Because Android is free, it creates uncompetitive pricing in the mobile market and also that Google creates has unfair practices by “making” its partner manufacturers use Google services like Gmail, Talk, Maps and the Play app and media store to use Android.
This Is All Kinds Of Stupid
“Google is using its Android mobile operating system as a ‘Trojan Horse’ to deceive partners, monopolize the mobile marketplace, and control consumer data,” said Thomas Vinje, Brussels-based counsel to the FairSearch coalition. “We are asking the Commission to move quickly and decisively to protect competition and innovation in this critical market. Failure to act will only embolden Google to repeat its desktop abuses of dominance as consumers increasingly turn to a mobile platform dominated by Google’s Android operating system.”
Android currently makes up about 70% of the world’s smartphone shipments.
Let’s get a couple pertinent issues out of the way. First, Android is free. This we know. Microsoft charges a license for Windows Phone, the same way it used to charge a “per seat” license for manufacturers to build the Windows PC operating system. Google officiates its official partners (like Samsung, LG or HTC), saying that if they want access to the Google Play Android app store, it must also give tools and services like YouTube, Talk, Maps and the Chrome browser top billing.
Google releases the kernel and base code to Android to the public, for free. If a manufacturer does not want to include Google services in their Android hardware, they are free to skip Google’s requirements for accessing Google Play.
That is exactly what Amazon did with the Kindle Fire. You cannot access Google Play or other Google apps from Amazon Android products. According to research by The Guardian, around a quarter of all Android devices shipped do not use Google services (mostly sold in China, where Google’s search service is banned). Facebook’s new “Home” skin allows Facebook to monetize consumer data while also allowing access to Google services. Samsung and its new Galaxy S4 (pictured above) de-emphasizes Google apps in favor of Samsung’s own apps. That does not mean that Samsung has cut Google out of the equation (though it could, theoretically) but has gone in its own direction with how it instantiates an open source mobile operating system.
It should be noted that the leader in the anti-Google Pitchfork Brigade is Microsoft. This is a company that was once convicted of monopoly activities for its Internet Explorer browser on Windows computers. Microsoft had cut off rival browsers, notably Netscape, from Windows and got hammered for it by the government. It should be noted that for every premium Google app that is offered in Android, Google allows competitors into the Play store. For instance, if you do not want Chrome for your browser, you can easily download Firefox, Dolphin, Opera or a variety of other browsers. Google is not locking its users into its own experience.
This Has Nothing To Do With Fair Search
You would think that an organization called Fair Search would, you know, be about search. The complaint barely mentions search at all. This is about money… not freedom of information.
From the complaint:
“Google’s anti-competitive strategy to dominate the mobile marketplace and cement its control over consumer Internet data for online advertising as usage shifts to mobile.”
“Cement its control over consumer Internet data and for online advertising.” That has little to do with consumers rights, wants or privileges. It has everything to do with Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle and its cohorts’ declining businesses.
This is about smartphone and tablet sales. The complaint with the European Commission is a sideways slap at Google without taking the real issue – share of handset market share – head on.
Nobody put a gun to the mobile carrier and manufacturers heads and said they had to use Android. Even if they you take the issue of access to Google Play into account, that is a service that Google has every right to set requirements to use. How is this anti-competitive? Just because Google built a popular product that is easy to build, easy to distribute and many manufacturers and partners have willingly decided to use that product, how does that make Google an anti-competitive monopoly in the mobile business?
Europe vs. United States
This type of complaint would never fly in the United States. Google could very easily point to Amazon and say, “look, we just give this thing away and people can do want they want with it. We think consumers get extra value if they want Google services and we set requirements for their use.”
FairSearch has already come after Google in the U.S. It logged complaints with the Federal Trade Commission targeting Google’s acquisition of Boston-based travel search engine ITA along with concerns over its AdWords keyword advertising engine tied to search results. In January 2013, after a 19-month investigation, the FTC basically exonerated Google of wrongdoing and chastised it about how it licenses patents.
The European Commission has not been quite so forgiving.
The EC has come down against Google over privacy concerns and is currently investigating the company, based on a FairSearch complaint, over privacy and antitrust concerns with its browser. European officials have show more willingness to put the hammer down on supposed monopolistic activities than its American counterparts. It should also be noted that Android does not have the dominance in the U.S. like it does in other parts of the world as it is tangled in an epic fight with Apple’s iPhone for the top spot in American consumers pockets. In Europe, Google can point to Apple dominance in the U.S. as an example of how competitors can achieve success by being smart and having superior product.
Top picture: Motorola Razr M by Dan Rowinski.
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Is Google’s Unified Privacy Policy Illegal in Europe?
Apr 3rd
Google’s revised privacy policy is under investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and five other European agencies. The search giant has so far refused to take any action to appease privacy and data protection concerns.
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Google Flight Search Touches Down in Europe
Mar 21st
People in the UK, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands now have access to Google Flight Search, its airline flight comparison service. However, there are some big names missing, including some of the more budget airlines.
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Google Helps Microsoft Get Fined Millions in Europe
Mar 8th
Microsoft got hit with a €561m fine from the European Commission (EC) after the firm failed to keep its promise of offering Windows users a choice of web browsers. The EC was tipped off about the violation by web browser rivals Google and Opera.
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Nu Studio – Expands SEO Services into Europe – PR Web (press release)
Feb 14th
 PR Web (press release) |
Nu Studio – Expands SEO Services into Europe
PR Web (press release) Nu Studio is an SEO company based in Perth, Western Australia. Some know Perth as the most isolated city in the world, but don't be fooled, it's a pretty progressive place when it comes to technology and the web. Nu Studio founder Steve Deane spotted … |
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Nu Studio – Expands SEO Services into Europe – Virtual-Strategy Magazine (press release)
Feb 13th
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Nu Studio – Expands SEO Services into Europe
Virtual-Strategy Magazine (press release) Nu Studio is an SEO company based in Perth, Western Australia. Some know Perth as the most isolated city in the world, but don't be fooled, it's a pretty progressive place when it comes to technology and the web. Nu Studio founder Steve Deane spotted … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Will Europe Force Google to Change How it Displays Search Results?
Jan 11th
Although Google escaped relatively unscathed from a U.S. antitrust investigation into its business practices by the FTC, Europe may bring a less favorable result for the dominant search engine, based on comments by the EU competition commissioner.
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Yandex Launches Personalized Search Results For Eastern Europe
Dec 12th
Russia’s leading search engine, Yandex has launched an approach to personalizing search results for users in Russia, Ukraine, Belorus and Kazakhstan, affecting 75-80% of search queries and potentially all of the search results a user sees. Yandex has been testing the approach throughout the…
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