back to article EU competition chief stays in touch with Google via TEXT MESSAGES

Google is on the verge of submitting proposed changes to its business practices to avoid sanctions over allegations it abuses its dominant position in the EU's search market. It is understood the ad giant will this week hand in its homework to the competition watchdog wing of the European Commission, which is mulling claims …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    EU competition chief & Google..... cosy as FINANCIAL REGULATORS & BIG BANKS...?

    "I have an open phone line, or email line, or SMS line at any moment," he told the New York Times in an interview." .... Mmmh, how cosy!

    Anyone else think relationships between PRIVACY REGULATORS and BIG TECH COMPANIES is starting to look as cosy as FINANCIAL REGULATORS and BIG BANKS?

    Certainly the Irish DPC & Facebook (FB-I) are very cosy... Bankrupt Ireland is too afraid to say boo to big business for fear of losing jobs! ... Or am I just a lone cynic?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: EU competition chief & Google..... cosy as FINANCIAL REGULATORS & BIG BANKS...?

      Stop SHOUTING it MAKES you LOOK like a RETARD.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. KjetilS

          Re: EU competition chief & Google..... cosy as FINANCIAL REGULATORS & BIG BANKS...?

          The uppercase was for emphasis to ease speed reading.

          I'm not the AC you replied to, but if that was your intention, you failed.

  2. LinkOfHyrule
    Paris Hilton

    WTF! STOP ABUSING YR POSITION GOOGLE LOL ;-)

  3. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Meh

    Bit too matey if you ask me

    These kinds of talks should be done in letters (emails) and minuted meetings.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bit too matey if you ask me

      And open to public scrutiny.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fixed it for ya.

    "On Monday, Microsoft, Nokia and 15 other Microsoft partners griped about Google's uber successful and popular Android mobile operating system"

    1. Dazed and Confused
      Holmes

      Re: Fixed it for ya.

      When's a monopoly a monopoly?

      Google's share of the mobile business has gone from zippo to significant in the time its taken for Nokia to slip from world domination to also ran.

      They'll hardly get the other mega power in the smartphone game to claim Android is a monopoly will they, neither will the other player want to see any definition of a monopoly less than 110% be seen in the legal world, less they fall foul of it themselves.

      As to getting suppliers to use their services, well its hard to compete with free.

      If Microsoft want phone vendors to use their services they could always try giving Windows away for zilch, but then hell would free over before that eventuality.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Fixed it for ya.

        Why? Google don't and that's part of the new allegations. Yes Android is free but the App Store is not and if the allegations are true and Google are forcing the inclusion of its other services and that they be displayed prominently over competing services then we are looking at the same anti-competitive tactics used by Intel to keep AMD out of the OEM market.

        1. fandom

          Re: Fixed it for ya.

          They have no way to force the inclusion of its other services, proof of it is that Amazon uses Android for free and doesn't include them.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Fixed it for ya.

            Because Amazon use their own App Store. As my earlier post stated the complaint is that Google is forcing the inclusion of its services as part of using the Google Play store. Now unless you have the finances and clout of Amazon you are going to struggle to implement your own App Store and a smartphone without an App Store is dead on arrival.

            This was the crux of the action taken against Intel, there was nothing stopping the OEMs from using AMD components but if they did they'd lose out on their Intel discounts and subsequently their product lines would no longer be competitive. Amazon and B&N are almost irrelevant in this regard because they aren't selling smartphones or tablets they are selling eBook readers with tablet features so aren't competing with the Nexus 7 for example.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Fixed it for ya.

              The point is also that with Android you DON'T have to use the Google app-store - most of the apps are available from other places so people using it have a choice unlike those using win 8.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Fixed it for ya.

                And how many app stores are there on Android that allow you to buy apps from the device itself, is secure, has the same number of apps as Google Play with the same payment methods and is advertised on the official Android website?

            2. fandom

              Re: Fixed it for ya.

              You compare it to Intel vs AMD but it is completely different.

              Through kickbacks Intel would charge a lot less to OEMs that wouldn't use AMD, specially Dell to the point where Dell's whole profits were smaller than the kickbacks they got from Intel.

              With Android Google charge you the same if you include their services or not: nothing in both cases.

              And that's not theoretical, Amazon and Baidu do it and if you Bing it (no Google for you, I guess) you will see there are quite a few web pages about how to get Google's market app in different devices that didn't come with it.

              And once you install it, you will see that they don't have any problems with provinding apps that compete with their own. You rather use Amazon's Kindle app instead of Google Books? No problem, as you wish, they don't abuse their platform against their competitors.

              So, how do they force OEMs to include their services? By being the best choice?

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Fixed it for ya.

                Not different at all. Intel was fined for providing disincentives to manufacturers that looked at incorporating alternative products and thereby pushing competitors out of the market. If the allegations against Google are true and Google does refuse to licence Google Play if the manufacturer doesn't install other Google services and feature them more prominent than other services out of the box then Google is providing disincentives for going with alternative products.

                1. fandom

                  Re: Fixed it for ya.

                  But even if it wasn't different, which it is, still Google don't do what you say they do.

                  Take the HTC First, the "Facebook phone", it is an android phone, it includes the play store, and yet Google doesn't have a problem with letting HTC partner with their biggest competitor to take over the user experience.

                  They don't even have a problem with including the Facebook Home app in their store so Facebook can take over even more handsets.

                  They make not like it, I bet they don't, but they allow it.

  5. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

    promotes its own services in its search results to the detriment of its rivals.

    In the early days of airline reservations systems, American Airlines (AA) launched a system called SABRE. It was available to their competitors as well, but there were complaints that for any given request, AA always displayed its own flight offerings at the top of the list. The courts upheld the complaint, and required AA to choose a fairer system.

    They changed to display the flight numbers in strict alphabetical order...

    aaaooogle, anyone?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Split

    Web search, ads, Android, Social, Cloud, Software... these are all separate and Google should be spilt into separate companies to match this.

    MS wasted billions keeping the greedy bureaucrats happy, but Google gets away with it?

    1. fandom

      Re: Split

      Well, there are few differences between MS and Google:

      Unlike Microsoft, Google don't require their clients to pay Google everytime they do buisness with Google competitors.

      Unlike Microsoft, Google don't order their clients to 'knife the baby'

      Unlike Microsoft, Google haven't been caught doctoring the evidence at trial

      You know, little things like that.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Split

        Dross from fifteen years ago? That's so last century.

        MS has changed and no longer does things lie that. MS gift standards to the world (OOXML), are a major contributor to open source (Linux), and bent over backwards to appear the anti-innovation regulators (browser choice).

        Stop fighting the demons of the past, there's a new enemy.

        1. fandom

          Re: Split

          So, you ask why they were fined billions and then you dismiss the reasons?

          How cute.

          I would question your reasons, but then you reveal then yourself:

          "are a major contributor to open source (Linux)"

          You are just trolling, that's ok, everyone needs a hobby no matter how pathetic, no wonder you are an anonymous coward.

        2. KjetilS
          FAIL

          Re: Split

          MS gift standards to the world (OOXML)

          Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

          Oh wait, you're serious.

          OOXML was a rushed job to stop OpenOffice getting a foothold in the public sector, and they even had to fill the standards committee with their own "partners" in order to force it through.

          On the part of it being a "standard", not even Microsoft's own software follows the spec.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Thumb Up

          Re: Split

          Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

          <wiping tears off> Sorry but it was a good looong laugh :)

  7. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Pot, meet kettle

    Does Microsoft permit other app stores on win phone 8? I don't think they do. And as a convicted monopolist, they should really not be in the position of calling out others for things thehy are doing themselves.

    Anyway, I don't think google is behaving anticompetitvely, but the EU can certainly decide.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pot, meet kettle

      Does Apple? Does MS have a dominant position on mobile?

      No and no.

      Discussion over.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Holmes

      Re: Pot, meet kettle

      All my Android devices have 3 app stores installed (Play, Amazon and F-Droid) plus a HumbleBundle app. Nobody even made it hard to do it. And two of my phones are Google branded Nexuses.

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