Google again in the antitrust's sights. The two software giants, Microsoft and Oracle (along with other manufacturers gathered in the FairSearch consortium) have appealed to the European Commission. The FairSearch group, which formally aims to combat anti-competitive practices but which has in fact become the thorn in Google's side, accuses the multinational owned by Brin and Page of using Android incorrectly.
The big G, according to the allegations, would use Android in order to "build a position of advantage for crucial Google applications in 70% of smartphones sold today" (said the lawyer of FairSearch Europe Thomas Vinje). Basically, the main problem is how Google ties its services with the operating system: if a smartphone maker wants to use Android and some of the users' favorite applications (like YouTube) – according to FairSearch – “it needs to pre-load a whole suite of Google's mobile services and give them a prominent position on the phone”.
The Commission is still examining the complaint lodged by the group and will have to decide whether to launch a formal investigation or not. The accusation also takes into account another not negligible detail: the position judged to be dominant in the field of mobile operating systems. In fact FairSearch points out that Google's market share reached 70,1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to 52,9 percent a year earlier.
But the reasons why Google won't be able to sleep peacefully don't end there. Just a few days ago, the Italian Privacy Guarantor, together with five other European authorities, opened an investigation against the company to verify compliance with the regulations on the protection of personal data. Under accusation the possibility for Google, established by its own policy, to cross-reference the data on users collected by the various services.
