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In addition to probing Google's strategies for building its search business, federal antitrust regulators are also looking into whether Google is barring smartphone makers that load the company'sAndroid mobile operating system on their devices from using competitors' services, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal, citing "people familiar with the probe," is reporting that lawyers from the Federal Trade Commission are asking whether the Web giant is preventing device makers that use Android from also featuring services from Google competitors. It's unclear from the Journal report if that relates to other mobile operating systems, such as Windows Phone, or other mobile applications, such as mapping services. But a number of handset makers that use Android, such as HTC, also sell devices that run Windows Phone software.
It's been six weeks since the FTC served Google with civil subpoenas. At the time, Google Fellow Amit Singhal wrote in a blog post that the agency has "begun a review of our business," but added that it was "unclear exactly what the FTC's concerns are." The presumption has been that trustbusters would focus on Google's market power in search advertising as well as Web search, businesses that it dominates in the United States.
The Journal noted that the FTC is also looking into whether "Google grants preferential placement on its website to its own products." That's an allegation that's surfaced over the years from rivals, who claim that Google's search results favor the company's services. And the Journal reported that regulators are also "looking into allegations that Google unfairly takes information collected by rivals, such as reviews of local businesses, to use on its own specialized site and then demotes the rivals' services in its search results."
Google has denied breaking antitrust laws or engaging in unfair business practices.
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The Journal, citing "people familiar with the probe," is reporting that lawyers from the Federal Trade Commission are asking whether the Web giant is preventing device makers that use Android from also featuring services from Google competitors. It's unclear from the Journal report if that relates to other mobile operating systems, such as Windows Phone, or other mobile applications, such as mapping services. But a number of handset makers that use Android, such as HTC, also sell devices that run Windows Phone software.
It's been six weeks since the FTC served Google with civil subpoenas. At the time, Google Fellow Amit Singhal wrote in a blog post that the agency has "begun a review of our business," but added that it was "unclear exactly what the FTC's concerns are." The presumption has been that trustbusters would focus on Google's market power in search advertising as well as Web search, businesses that it dominates in the United States.
The Journal noted that the FTC is also looking into whether "Google grants preferential placement on its website to its own products." That's an allegation that's surfaced over the years from rivals, who claim that Google's search results favor the company's services. And the Journal reported that regulators are also "looking into allegations that Google unfairly takes information collected by rivals, such as reviews of local businesses, to use on its own specialized site and then demotes the rivals' services in its search results."
Google has denied breaking antitrust laws or engaging in unfair business practices.
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