If the new anti-trust case against Google holds any water, then it should also apply to Microsoft & Apple
Though the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has found Google innocent of indulging in anti-competitive practices in how it orders its search results (the case is still on in the European Commission), the search giant finds itself facing the same charges in another lucrative business segment?its Android operating system. The complaint comes from a consortium of 17 companies dubbed FairSearch, which include major players like Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle. The group accuses Google of acting unfairly by requiring device makers using its free Android OS to bundle with the OS an entire suite of Google?s services?and the fact that an estimated 70% of all smartphones run Android makes this anti-competitive, they say. The group has chosen to take the case to the European Commission (EC), probably because of its stricter track record compared to the US FTC. What is interesting about the case is that it can in reality be applied to most technology companies, not just Google?Apple, for example, comes bundled with Apple Maps, Safari and other Apple-owned services as default options. And, Microsoft was, at the start of the millennium, facing very similar charges?that it didn?t give users the option of choosing their browser; Internet Explorer came loaded as the default browser.
Now, the case against Microsoft resulted in two separate fines (one at the time of the ruling, the second earlier this year for failure to give users the choice of browser), and so if the EC is consistent, it should fine Google as well in this case. But the fact of the matter is that such rulings open up most technology companies to such fines. If Google has to be fair to its competitors in the OS market, so should Apple, Microsoft and BlackBerry.