Google had previously responded to two of the three European Union's antitrust charges last week. The tech company insisted that the European Commission lack evidence with its cases. After laying out their defense regarding its Google Shopping and AdSense Search, Google is now speaking out on the issue of its Android operating system.
What Google is going through is akin to what happened to Microsoft. The tech company might end up paying billions.
The Similarity To Microsoft's Previous Debacle
According to Recode, the Commission had previously accused Microsoft of antitrust abuses. The EU's alleged that the Internet Explorer held a disproportionate share of the browser market in Europe. This was the scenario since the Microsoft browser was bundled with Windows back in 2009. Eventually, the tech giant had to pay $3.4 billion in fines.
The difference for Google is that there is not only one but three antitrust charges. Google will likely pay up to $7.5 billion. That is if EU does find the company in violation of its antitrust rules.
Google's Response To EU's Charges Regarding Its Android OS
Google released a statement on its blog regarding the case of their Android OS. Google's Senior Vice President and General Counsel Kent Walker said that response they filed showed that Android has not hurt competition. Instead, the operating system actually expanded it.
EU has accused Google of requiring hardware manufacturers to pre-install Google apps under its restrictive licensing practices. Apparently, the commission saw this as being unfair to its rivals in the market.
However, the tech company pointed out that Android is a free and open-source operating system. It means that manufacturers don't need to buy or build expensive mobile OS. In fact, this is exactly the cause why smartphones that use the Android OS have lower prices.
Google also mentioned its rival mobile OS, Apple's iOS. They used it as a perfect example. Apparently, Apple also pre-installs Apple apps on iPhone. That is also the case with Microsoft's Windows. They added that Google doesn't block manufacturers to pre-install their rivals' apps in their devices.
Furthermore, the users can always delete Google apps if they want to.
