Comment: Brussels shows the teeth of Google



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Commentary Brussels shows the teeth of Google

| Reading time: 2 minutes

  Hannelore Crolly

D He is a creature of habit. He uses what he is given instead of looking for his own offers. Google as the owner of the Android smartphone operating system uses this inertia. Ostensibly, it looks like a good service. But the giant of the Internet does us no good. Because Android is free for manufacturers, Android devices often cost less than iPhones. It's nice for consumers. In return, the search engine operator requires that a package containing eleven Google applications be pre-installed. This suits our convenience. So where is the problem?

The question is, how long can a free and competitive innovation be if Google limits the rules of the game in such a way? Anyone who finds a starter pack with eleven Google apps, tends to use these particular apps. The competitors, whose offers are stuck somewhere in the app supermarket, do not even reach the customers. For new search engine operators or card services thus missing the incentive to further development. So it's a dead-end fight because new players are not even on the ground. In the meantime, Google is eliminating and collecting data from our users to make them earn money.

The decision of the European Commission to put an end to Google's abuse of power is therefore correct. The only question is whether it is not already late. For three years, Brussels has reviewed the case, three years during which Google has been able to extend its supremacy. Apart from the iOS of Apple, there is no other mobile operating system, even Microsoft has abandoned. And many users will probably continue to use Google's familiar applications, even if they have to load them themselves in the future.

Yet, in times of trade disputes between the EU and the United States, Brussels has shown: There are rules for fair competition in Europe. And there are giants to keep at that.

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