EU ruling against Google opens 'opportunity,' rival says

BRUSSELS (AP) – European regulators' latest swipe at the dominance of U.S. tech giant – Google is open to new opportunities for rivals in search and web browsers – that is, if handset manufacturers decide to make the most of the opening.

The European Commission on Wednesday fined Google has record $ 5 billion for forcing cellphone makers that use the company's Android operating system to install Google's search and browser apps. It also has a 90-day deadline for rectifying the problem or risk further fines.

A solution could involve unbundling its core apps Search, Chrome and Play Store from other apps with Android. The company may also decide to reverse its practice of Android devices by using Android versions of Android, such as Amazon's Fire OS.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in relation to restricting competition "was not just a remote possibility from theory books." She said Amazon tried to license Android-based Fire OS in 2012, but Google's contracts prevented it.

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

Google immediately said it will appeal the rulings, arguing that its rival operating system, Apple.

Android has "created more choice for everyone, not less," Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted.

Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit group that creates the lightweight ad-blocking browser Firefox Focus, said the ruling gives it the opportunity to displace Chrome as the default browser or be pre-installed alongside it on some phones. Huawei to Samsung about these possibilities.

The ruling creates "a huge opportunity," Denelle Dixon, Mozilla's chief operating officer, said Wednesday.

It's also possible not much will change. Google Search, Chrome and the Play Store are popular with consumers and developers. Handset manufacturers could choose them despite unbundling.

"Thomas Vinje, lead lawyer for FairSearch, the Brussels-based lobbying group backed by Oracle, the case. "It at least opens up the possibility."

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

It could stoke tensions between Europe and the U.S., which regulates the tech industry with a lighter hand. Still, some U.S. politicians welcomed it.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut tweeted that the fine should "be a wake-up call" to the Federal Trade Commission and should lead U.S. enforcers to protect consumers. Blumenthal previously called on regulators to investigate how to Google users of Android phones.

In its ruling, the EU said it broke the rules.

The EU took issue with Google's payments to wireless carriers and phone makers to pre-install the Google Search app.

It also said Google broke the law that it took a toll on Android.

The 4.34 billion euro penalty comes on top of a 2.42 billion euro fine ($ 2.8 billion).

Neither fine will cripple the company. Google parent Alphabet, made $ 9.4 billion in profit in the first three months of the year and has over $ 100 billion in cash reserves.

"What is important is that Google has changed its abusive behavior," said Rich Stables, CEO of the Kelkoo rival search engine.

The Google crackdown comes at a sensitive time for trans-Atlantic relations, with President Donald Trump lambasting the EU as a "foe" only last week. The U.S. has tariffs on this steel and aluminum this year, and the United States has responded to these requirements.

Android is technically an open source Google lets cellphone makers use for free. As a result, it is the most widely used system, Apple's beating iOS by a wide margin.

The EU wants to make sure that they are free to pre-install apps of their choosing. It also wants to be able to use Android versions of Android, like Amazon's Fire OS.

Both Amazon and Samsung, maker of the popular Galaxy line of phones, declined to comment on the ruling.

Google argues that the downloads are easy and the inclusion of its competitors, the apps are a tap away.

It also argues that not-so-called "forked" versions of Android ensures a base of experience across some 24,000 different models of Android devices. Vestager called the compatibility argument a "smokescreen."

European regulators have set the pace in shaping rules for the tech industry.

They have likewise taken a harder line on data privacy. After the scandal this spring involving the misuse of Facebook users' personal data during the U.S. presidential election and other campaigns, the EU has begun to apply new rules.

___

Nakashima reported from Menlo Park, California. Associated Press Writers Matt O'Brien in Providence, R.I .; Nick Jesdanun in New York; and Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this story.