Google's European fine is a throwback to Microsoft's ugly anti-trust battle

Today, the European Commission has fined Google $ 5 billion for anti-competitive behavior, the company's largest antitrust decision. The main complaint of the Commission is that by requiring that Chrome and Google be default services on any device using the Google Play Store, Android adopts anti-competitive behavior. As part of the decision, Google must stop forcing Chrome and Google to search on manufacturers, and stop all efforts to block the split versions of Android. We still do not know how Google will respond to the decision – especially if it will end up charging phone manufacturers directly for Android licenses – but this is clearly a major blow to Google and the strategic value of Google. Android as a platform. Older readers, all this may sound familiar. The year 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of a different set of regulators that are tackling a different operating system than the platforms versus monopolistic bundling arrangements. of software. In 1998, US regulators roasted Microsoft on its necessary bundling of Internet Explorer in Windows, even calling Bill Gates to testify. At the time, Microsoft was a singular force, sold alongside 95% of Intel-compatible PCs. This dominance has given the company an edge in the emerging market of Web clients, bringing users to Internet Explorer over competitors like Netscape. The Department of Justice responded with one of the strongest antitrust pressures in the history of technology, imposing years of close scrutiny on its source code and APIs, as well as serious restrictions on the technology. 39 dynamic integration of its browser in Windows. it seems that Google is preparing to make the same journey. This time, the platform is Android, which brings users to search Google and Chrome. Google is even slapped on some of Microsoft's defensive tactics, posting a video "how to uninstall" this morning that echoes a video that Microsoft has presented in its own lawsuit. Both have the same message: See how easy it is to change the default values? True, we can not be a monopoly, is not it?

Google is in a similar position to Microsoft in 1998. It is a must-have platform that prints money through a network of complex transactions that never touch the consumer. By the time Internet Explorer became a problem, Microsoft had already encountered problems forcing manufacturers on MS-DOS through complex licensing agreements, another echo of the current case. Given the massive reach, it is not so surprising that both companies have faced antitrust issues. When a company controls one of the largest software platforms in the world, it's hard to resist the temptation

But the The differences are glaring: while Windows was a dominant platform in 1998, Internet Explorer was just beginning, attracting about a quarter of Netscape Navigator users. By 2018, Chrome and Google search are already full-fledged giants: Chrome orders around 60% market share for browsers and about 90% search orders among search engines. Most of this user base has nothing to do with Android bundling, and while this may strengthen the antitrust case, it limits the impact of the decision to make it. aujourd & # 39; hui. The removal of mandatory bundling will hurt search results and Chrome in the short term, but it's hard to argue that this will lead to an age of competition between mobile browsers and search engines. . What is more likely is that it will free manufacturers to cut deals with Bing and other Google alternatives. This is good news for manufacturers' results, but it's not really a win for consumer choice.

The commission's decision also comes at a very different time for the industry as a whole. It sounds weird now, but Windows was not just a platform. It was a product that people – not just manufacturers, but everyday consumers who wanted their computers to use the latest operating system – were paying their real money. (Even stranger, they bought it in a physical store, coming out with a cardboard box that said "Windows" on it.) There was a dollar price associated with Windows. And the more the platform became dominant, the more manufacturers and regulators began to worry that the price could go up.

But like Facebook and all the other big software in 2018, Android is processing data rather than cold money. Android users ultimately translate into money, but only after going through a maze of targeted advertising products. It's an economy of attention, and even the most severe critics of the company recognize that this requires a whole new way of thinking about antitrust. Today's decision is our first glimpse of what this kind of regulation might look like, but no one knows how effective it will be in the future.

Perhaps the biggest difference between Google and Microsoft antitrust decisions is this. Microsoft has rebuffed against the Department of Justice for years, but the fight ultimately thwarted Internet Explorer and marked the beginning of the end of Microsoft's dominance over the industry. It's already too late to push Chrome and look for a similar path. Instead of blocking a nascent product, regulators are trying to reduce a huge one. For anyone who is scared by the growing power of Google, it may be too late.