Prompted by a complaint from Yandex, Russia’s antitrust regulator found that Google-required pre-installed Android apps violated Russian competition laws. Yandex is now taking the fight to Europe, which is already investigating the issue.
According to Reuters, Yandex has similarly complained that pre-installed Google apps on Android devices violate European competition rules. Yandex has a number of apps that compete with Google’s, including search and maps.
The complaint doesn’t add anything new to Europe’s investigation into Android. However, it probably gives the Russian case and remedy more visibility in Europe.
Russia’s Antimonopoly Service gave Google a November 18 deadline to address its ruling and has prohibited Google from using contracts with OEMs (in Russia) that require pre-installation of Google apps as a condition of gaining access to the Google Play store.
Europe is in the midst of its antitrust case against Google’s desktop Shopping Search results, which is probably the first in a series of “Statements of Objections” (charges). The Commission is in the beginning stages of its Android investigation.
Google has fought back against European Commission positions, arguing there’s no legal basis for assessing fines against the company and that the European Commission bears the burden of proving that Google is essentially a public utility in this case.
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