The EU's decision against Google could open an "opportunity" for search engines and competing web browsers



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The European Commission has imposed a $ 5 billion record fine on Google to force cell phone manufacturers using the company's Android operating system to install Google's search and navigation apps.

Reuters

giant Google could open new opportunities for rivals in search engines and web browsers – that is, if handset makers decide to make the most of the # Opening

the company's Android operating system to install Google's search and navigation applications. He also set a 90-day deadline for Google to rectify the problem or risk new fines.

One remedy might be to ungroup its basic Search, Chrome and Play Store applications with eight other apps that it offers with Android. The company could also decide to prohibit Android device manufacturers from selling devices using modified versions of Android, such as Amazon's Fire OS system

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Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner of Competition, said: She stated that Amazon had been trying to get a license for its Android-based Fire operating system in 2012, but that Google's contracts had prevented it.

"Manufacturers could not launch Fire OS on a single device" she said.

Google immediately said that it will appeal the ruling, arguing that its free operating system has led to cheap phones and created competition with its main rival, Apple.

Android has created more choices for everyone "

Mozilla Foundation, the non-profit group that creates the Firefox Focus, a lightweight browser that blocks ads. There is an opportunity to move Chrome as the default browser or to be pre-installed next to it on some phones. He has been in discussions with Huawei manufacturers in Samsung about these possibilities.

The decision creates "a huge opportunity," said Wednesday Denelle Dixon, chief operating officer of Mozilla

. Google Search, Chrome and the Play Store are popular with consumers and developers.

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"It's Possible That Phone Manufacturers Do not Take Advantage of the New Freedom They Have ", said Thomas Vinje. for FairSearch, the Brussels-based lobbying group backed by Oracle, TripAdvisor and others who was the main plaintiff in the case. "That opens at least the possibility."

The fine, which caps a three-year investigation, is the largest ever imposed on a company by the EU for anti-competitive behavior.

It could stir up tensions between Europe and the United States, which regulates the technology industry with a lighter hand.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut tweeted that the fine should "be a wake up call" to the Federal Trade Commission and should prompt US law enforcement to protect consumers. Blumenthal has already asked regulators to investigate how Google tracks Android phone users.

In its decision, the EU said Google was breaking the rules by forcing mobile phone makers to take a package of Google apps they wanted. The EU has disputed the payments made by Google to wireless carriers and phone manufacturers to preinstall exclusively the Google Search application.

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She also stated that Google was breaking the law. The penalty of 4.34 billion euros comes to add to a fine of 2.42 billion euros ($ 2.8 billion) imposed on Google a year ago for having favored his shopping lists in the search results

. ] Neither will paralyze the company. Google Alphabet has made a profit of $ 9.4 billion in the first three months of the year and cash reserves of more than $ 100 billion

"What is important is that it is a good thing. is that Google is changing abusive behavior ". Kelkoo's rival search engine

Google's crackdown comes at a critical juncture for transatlantic relations, with President Donald Trump criticizing the EU as an "enemy" last week. The United States imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the EU this year, and the EU reacted by imposing duties on US goods

android is technically an open source operating system that Google lets use for free. As a result, it is the most widely used system, which far exceeds Apple's iOS.

The EU wants to make sure that phone manufacturers are free to pre-install the apps of their choice. He also wants cell phone manufacturers to be able to more easily use modified versions of Android, such as the Amazon Fire operating system.

Amazon and Samsung, maker of the popular Galaxy phone line, declined to comment on this decision. argues that downloads are easy and that while the inclusion of its suite of applications helps phones out of the box, competitor applications are at hand.

She also argues that the fact of not supporting the "split ends" of Android a base of experience on some 24,000 different models of Android devices. Vestager has qualified the compatibility argument of "smoke screen".

European regulators set the tone by shaping rules for the technology industry.

They also adopted a stricter position on data confidentiality. After the scandal this spring involving the misuse of personal data of Facebook users during the US presidential election and other campaigns, the EU has begun to apply new, stricter rules .

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