Google played out in a "monopoly": The European Commission set to work on the spread of Android OS

EU regulators officially charged Google with violating antitrust laws. Today, the European Commission has published a message . European Commissioner for Competition Margaret Vestager said that Google had supplied the Android operating system to manufacturers of devices with special conditions, abusing its dominant position in the market.

The European Commission concluded that such actions by Google could be detrimental to consumers, as they stifle competition and limit innovation in the industry.
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Together with the Google Play store, the company obliged partners to pre-install their other services. Moreover, partners had to place icons of services on especially "favorable" places of the screen. Google also demanded that vendors (or pay them extra for it) install their search engine and default browser.

The corporation made an agreement with partners in such a way that they would not have the right to produce smartphones with Android OS versions from any developers other than Google.

“We fear that Google, by requiring manufacturers to pre-install their applications on devices, is thus preventing them from deciding which applications to install,” said Vestager. “And with this, Google actually blocks the main way that application developers can get users attention.”

The European authorities have paid attention to Android after they received complaints from application developers that Google discriminates them, obliging the manufacturers of smartphones and tablets to give preferences to their services. One of the prosecutors in this case was the Russian “Yandex”: first, the company acted as a witness in the European investigation, and in April 2015 submitted its own application to the European Commission, remind “Vedomosti”.

Google has 12 weeks to influence the decision of the European Commission. Corporations face a fine of up to $ 7.4 billion - 10% of revenue for 2015.

Earlier, Westager initiated another investigation into Google’s activities on the online advertising market based on a complaint from Microsoft, Tripadvisor, Streetmap, Expedia and other companies. They accused Google of giving preferences to their own services (Youube, Google+, Google Maps) and detriment to competitors.

“Android has helped develop a wonderful and, importantly, sustainable ecosystem based on open source software and innovativeness. We look forward to working with the European Commission and to demonstrate that Android encourages competition and gives users great opportunities, ”said Kent Walker, senior vice president and general counsel of Google.

Westager compared the market position of Google Android operating systems and Apple iOS . The latter distributes iOS only on its own devices. Therefore, the European Commission cannot have similar claims to Apple .