Google Criticizes EU Regulators for Ignoring Apple in Bid to Get $5.1 Billion Antitrust Fine Annulled

[fernelius]

"the highly powerful Apple"

for some reason i had to giggle at that.

Hmmm. I better check the fruit door in my refrigerator when I get home!

 

[jimbobb24]

The Golden Age of phones and apps will pass and people will forget the role regulators had in screwing it all up.

 

[fourthtunz]

ha ha ha , Google is like, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
The real problem is over there!

 

[lederermc]

Hmmm... Is there an official legal term for "whataboutism?"

Yes it's called Maga.

 

[Sciomar]

Yes it's called Maga.

 

[Shirasaki]

Got it. EU loves money apple brings, so they will use the exact talking point many apple defenders brag since epic lawsuit begins, and instead fine a “smaller player” google.

Guess capturing high end market automatically make you immune from monopoly charges while asserting untold level of market dominance, forming a monopoly of sort. Who would’ve thought about that?

 

[amartinez1660]

The European Commission argued that "bringing Apple into the picture doesn't change things very much" because Apple and Google pursue different models and because Apple has a smaller market share. Android is installed on approximately 80 percent of the smartphones in the world.

Off this exact topic, to flame things a bit…
At the same time on other lawsuits and fines Apple is found guilty of exactly that, following other sort of business models, namely: a single centralized AppStore, tight vertical integration of hardware/software, monopoly (on whatever’s left of that non android 20% I guess), etc

I sense a bit of having all their cakes and eating them too.

 

[cmaier]

EU really should stick to its knitting.

 

[senttoschool]

I hate that the EU is trying to dictate so much. They're very business-unfriendly, especially big foreign businesses. They're working hard to fine American companies out of hundreds of millions to cover up for their loss tax revenue.

I think the U.S. should start fining EU companies that operate here to counter this.

After this Google thing, I'm 100% sure the EU will try to get a few billion out of Apple.

 

[Wildkraut]

Yeah \o/ hit em both hard…
Anyway, don’t oversee this last paragraph:

It would require Apple to allow iPhone and iPad users to download apps from third-party App Stores or from the internet, and Apple has been fighting against it.

Google gets fined, and Apple must allow sideloading and third party AppStores

Win, win ❤️
Go Verstager go 👍 , customers first!

 

[Wildkraut]

Got it. EU loves money apple brings, so they will use the exact talking point many apple defenders brag since epic lawsuit begins, and instead fine a “smaller player” google.

Guess capturing high end market automatically make you immune from monopoly charges while asserting untold level of market dominance, forming a monopoly of sort. Who would’ve thought about that?

Currently Apple does not bring much money to the EU with their TAX avoidance tricks, but this will also change. Tax should be paid where products are bought, simply as that.

If I were Apple or the Crook, i would prefer to get a fine, but the EU will also enforce sideloading, Third Party AppStores, etc. and hit em directly into the heart.

Apple won’t escape this all, it’s just a matter of time. Other companies will also be hit.

Digital Markets Act - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ksec]

I get your point. But those number are only good for illustration and are not accurate. Both percentage and numbers.

Mr mejsric likes to downvote without explaining. Obviously he thinks he knows the numbers better than I do.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Apple can’t be a monopoly because it doesn’t offer its operating system for other devices except Apple‘s own.

We learned this when Microsoft was called a monopoly 20 years ago and it still is one today.

Google is pretending not to know this.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

So the EU wants a phone with just the most basic OS installed and nothing else? Bring back the days of MS-DOS / CP/M, y'all.🥳 If we want phone, browser, messaging and so on. Everything we want we would have to download from the Appstore/Playstore? I would be among the 1% who would like this.

Granted the result won't be as elegant or as polished as what Apple and Google. Gestalt, greater than the sums of its parts. I would be one of the few who would like a Frankenstein phone of mismatched apps, instead of a unified look and polish offering we have now.😏

The EU wants a European company to make phones, and they'll do this protectionist nonsense until that happens. Which it probably never will.

 

[tann]

Apple and Google between them dominate the Mobile Market, and it's scary the amount of control they can exercise. They absolutely both need to be reigned in in multiple ways.

 

[Pezimak]

Seems like a weak argument to bring up Apple, but I don’t know why Google is being fined here.

Maybe they could be forced to allow an easy way to change the search engine, but something has to be the default. If users were asked to choose an engine, what name would be at the top of the list? Because the name at the top would probably be chosen. But regardless of where Google is on the list, the vast majority will choose Google. Same thing with the browser.

So what is the solution according to the EU? I do not understand the idiocy of these policies that come out of the EU. It seems like it’s coming more from jealousy than any legitimate desire to protect consumers. The EU is jealous that tech is primarily dominated by US companies, bottom line.

I agree with this entirely, I think Googles excuse here is just desperation to try and defend against the decision as expected.
But I really struggle to understand the reason for the fine as you say. Practically everyone would choose google apps like email and browser on a google phone OS?
And why are they not fining Apple for doing the exact same thing? I don't recall Apple EVER not installing Safari as it's default browser or allow to setup other search engines, yet the EU has a problem with Google doing the same with Chrome? Something seems incorrect there.
Am I missing something with this?

 

[Pezimak]

Apple is just not on the same level as Google. Googles reach and influence is powerful.

If that were true then why do you think the EU is actively investigating Apple for anti competitive behaviour with its App Store policies and payment structure? Like several others round the globe are.

 

[iPadified]

I hate that the EU is trying to dictate so much. They're very business-unfriendly, especially big foreign businesses. They're working hard to fine American companies out of hundreds of millions to cover up for their loss tax revenue.

I think the U.S. should start fining EU companies that operate here to counter this.

After this Google thing, I'm 100% sure the EU will try to get a few billion out of Apple.

I think you need to read up on what EU does to European companies breaking the trade rules. It is not pretty for these companies either.

As someone pointed out above there are essentially two players : Google and Apple. Who in their right mind call that a healthy competition? Apply that situation to the car industry, groceries, cloths, games, number of sport clubs in for instance football etc and you would conclude you where living in a totalitarian state with very expensive goods and very little variation.

In Europe, we value market economy and the diversity required for that and if companies are misbehaving we drag them to court. Explain to me why trying to protect a sound market economy is wrong.

 

[iPadified]

The EU wants a European company to make phones, and they'll do this protectionist nonsense until that happens. Which it probably never will.

If USA developed two to three more mobile OS and Phones that really competed with each other - EU would be happy.

 

[thenewperson]

Got it. EU loves money apple brings, so they will use the exact talking point many apple defenders brag since epic lawsuit begins, and instead fine a “smaller player” google.

Guess capturing high end market automatically make you immune from monopoly charges while asserting untold level of market dominance, forming a monopoly of sort. Who would’ve thought about that?

You have to be exceptionally deluded to brand Google as the smaller player here.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

I agree with this entirely, I think Googles excuse here is just desperation to try and defend against the decision as expected.
But I really struggle to understand the reason for the fine as you say. Practically everyone would choose google apps like email and browser on a google phone OS?
And why are they not fining Apple for doing the exact same thing? I don't recall Apple EVER not installing Safari as it's default browser or allow to setup other search engines, yet the EU has a problem with Google doing the same with Chrome? Something seems incorrect there.
Am I missing something with this?

You are missing the whole mountain.
google forces companies to install services on their phones to gain a market edge. EU don’t care what google does on pixel phones.

Ape have never in the history of apple ever forced a phone maker to install safari on it. Apple only does this on their phones they produce. Apple is payed by google to have their search engine as default instead of others.

Googl have android OS with GooLe play store, with google services and google search. Everything is forced and bundled as they have 80% of the market. Same reason why Microsoft was forced to make internet explorer optional as windows is installed on other computers not their own(untill recently)

edit: they are fining apple and suing them based on their anti competitive actions of the App Store. It’s just completely different laws being broken by apple and google.

 

[diamond.g]

You are missing the whole mountain.
google forces companies to install services on their phones to gain a market edge. EU don’t care what google does on pixel phones.

Ape have never in the history of apple ever forced a phone maker to install safari on it. Apple only does this on their phones they produce. Apple is payed by google to have their search engine as default instead of others.

Googl have android OS with GooLe play store, with google services and google search. Everything is forced and bundled as they have 80% of the market. Same reason why Microsoft was forced to make internet explorer optional as windows is installed on other computers not their own(untill recently)

edit: they are fining apple and suing them based on their anti competitive actions of the App Store. It’s just completely different laws being broken by apple and google.

Forces is a strong word. Companies are perfectly fine using AOSP and rolling their own store (think Kindle Fire, or Tizen). They have chosen to use GMS and that choice comes with requirements (MADA and related compatibility tests).

 

[Shirasaki]

You have to be exceptionally deluded to brand Google as the smaller player here.

I don’t. Google is not small player.
But, only Apple is valued as 3 Trillions and Google is not quite there. Hence why I use “smaller”, even though market value is usually hugely inflated and not really indicative of anything.

 

[senttoschool]

As someone pointed out above there are essentially two players : Google and Apple. Who in their right mind call that a healthy competition? Apply that situation to the car industry, groceries, cloths, games, number of sport clubs in for instance football etc and you would conclude you where living in a totalitarian state with very expensive goods and very little variation.

Different industries. There are millions of mom-and-pop shops. Tens of thousands of clothing brands. Maybe 20 car manufacturers. A few giant grocery stores. Three bleeding-edge node manufacturers (TSMC, Samsung, Intel). Two mobile OS providers. One bleeding-edge node machine maker (ASML).

The market usually always settles into two popular operating systems because app makers don't want to support more and consumers go where the apps are.

The consumers and app makers choose the winning mobile operating systems. They've chosen Apple and Google. WebOS, FireFoxOS, Windows Mobile, Nokia, Motorola, etc. all failed.

 

[randyhudson]

Doesn't Google pay Apple like $5 billion per year just to be the default search on the so-called competition?