UK Edition
Google says EU competition charge threatens free Android
Google has attacked an EU crackdown on its Android software, claiming that efforts to impede the mobile operating system could harm Google’s ability to compete with Apple and threaten its ability to give Android away for free.
The internet giant rejected charges that it exploits Android’s dominance of the smartphone market to promote its lucrative search engine and app store, arguing that “Android hasn’t hurt competition, it’s expanded it.”
The move is the latest episode in a bitter battle with Brussels that could ultimately see Google fined billions of dollars.
While Google provides the Android software to phone manufacturers for free, those who want to install the popular Google Play app store must also include Google’s search app and its Chrome web browser. In practice, it means that these apps are installed on almost all Android phones in Europe.
After opening an antitrust investigation last year, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager charged Google with breaking competition law in April, claiming this policy of “bundling” its apps together unfairly harms rivals.
Google responded on Thursday by arguing that consumers have the choice to easily download different apps should they wish to do so, and that manufacturers are allowed to install rival apps as well as Google’s own. It contrasted this with the iPhone, pointing out that every one of the 39 apps pre-installed on the device are developed by Apple.
Google claims that cracking down on Android would not promote competition but instead damage Google’s ability to compete with the iPhone and could mean people being forced to pay more for their phones if Google was forced to drop its lucrative bundling policy.
It warned that Android's free nature could be threatened. "Distributing products like Google Search together with Google Play permits us to offer our entire suite for free — as opposed to, for example, charging upfront licensing fees, said Google’s general counsel Ken Walker.
"This free distribution is an efficient solution for everyone — it lowers prices for phone makers and consumers, while still letting us sustain our substantial investment in Android and Play. The Commission’s approach would upset this balance, and send an unintended signal favouring closed over open platforms.
"It would mean less innovation, less choice, less competition, and higher prices. That wouldn’t be just a bad outcome for us. It would be a bad outcome for developers, for phone makers and carriers, and, most critically, for consumers."
Android is installed on the majority of smartphones around Europe but Google claimed that the software is in direct competition with Apple’s iOS, rejecting the characterisation of Android as a dominant platform. “To ignore competition with Apple is to miss the defining feature of today’s competitive smartphone landscape,” it said.
The European Commission has the power to fine companies up to 10pc of their global revenue, or $7.5bn (£6bn). Google rejected two other charges, of abusing the dominance of its search engine and AdSense advertising business, last week.