E.U. Says Google to Stop Anti-Competitive Android Practices, Fine Expected

[engine]

Google's Android comes with Google Apps pre-loaded in what's described as anti-competitive practices. The E.U. has issued a document, with more than 150-pages, to the complainants over the practices, with Google having had the document since April.
According to Reuters, the E.U. is ready to levy a"large fine" which will be "sufficient to ensure deterrence."

EU antitrust regulators plan to order Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google to stop paying financial incentives to smartphone makers to pre-install Google Search exclusively on their devices and warned the company of a large fine, an EU document showed.

Google "cannot punish or threaten" companies for not complying with its conditions, according to the document seen by Reuters. E.U. Says Google to Stop Anti-Competitive Android Practices, Fine Expected [reuters.com]

"The Commission intends to set the fine at a level which will be sufficient to ensure deterrence," it said.

Added
The E.U. has given Google an extension to 31 October to reply to the antitrust charges.
[reuters.com...]

[edited by: engine at 3:48 pm (utc) on Oct 3, 2016]

[superclown2]

The EU antitrust enforcer intends to hit the company with deterrent fines in the Android and shopping cases, according to charge sheets seen by Reuters.

That reads as though they've already been found guilty, before they have submitted their reply. And at a potential 7.4bn dollars per charge, that's a possible 14.8bn. Wow.

I hope the US administration doesn't howl too much. Their treatment of BP and several European banks has been draconian.

[engine]

Google has responded and, unsurprisingly, disagrees with the E.U.'s Statement of Objections.

The response we filed today shows how the Android ecosystem carefully balances the interests of users, developers, hardware makers, and mobile network operators.

No manufacturer is obliged to preload any Google apps on an Android phone. But we do offer manufacturers a suite of apps so that when you buy a new phone you can access a familiar set of basic services.

A consumer can swipe away any of our apps at any time.

On that last point, it's not easy to remove some apps, imho.

Here's the full response from Google.
[blog.google...]