Europe says that Google abuses domain Android – CNET in Spanish

Margrethe Vestager is in charge of the competition commission of the European Union.

Thierry Tronnel / Corbis

Google is, again, in the crosshairs of the European authorities.

the Commissioner of the competence of the European Union (EU) said on Wednesday it is accusing the search giant and mobile software unfair trade practices by forcing handset manufacturers to install their applications in exchange for access to the store Google Play.

the EU also argues that Google requires manufacturers to pre-install its own search service and its Chrome browser, which prevents them from selling devices running versions that compete with Android, and gives financial incentives to phone manufacturers and operators to preinstall only Google searches.

the charges, announced the EU at a press conference in Brussels, after reaching a formal investigation of one year Google and its domain Android.

“We believe that the behavior of Google denies consumers a wider range of mobile applications and services range and stands in the way of innovation by other players, in violation of antitrust rules the EU, “said Margrethe Vestager, who oversees competition policy of the EU, in a statement of objections sent to Google.

Google has 12 weeks to respond.

charges could have a major impact on business phones Google in Europe, forcing empower phone manufacturers about which applications are pre-installed on Android phones.

the phones running the Android software Google come straight from the box with a defined set of Google services, including a browser, search and maps. In its statement, the EU expressed concern that the company does not give access to the Play Store to phone manufacturers who do not make Google’s search service default and Chrome the default browser.

this is particularly worrying for the European Commission, as it says, about 80 percent of smart mobile devices running Android in Europe. That dominance and practices of licensing Google effectively limit the ability of rivals to compete.

“It’s one of my priorities to ensure that consumers enjoy a wide range of platforms, products and services” , Vestager told a news conference on Wednesday.

Google said in a blog, highlighting the “open innovation model Android”.

“Android has helped foster an ecosystem remarkable – and, above all, sustainable – based on open source software and open innovation, “said Kent Walker, senior vice president of the company and general counsel, in a blog post. “We look forward to working with the European Commission to show that Android is good for competition and good for consumers.”

This is not the first antitrust case that Google has faced in Europe. It has already been ordered to reorder how they will appear your own shopping services search results after another antitrust investigation concluded that Google gave its own services preferential treatment. Google has struggled and resisted and that case is still ongoing.