<story><title>European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case</title><url>http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4581_en.htm</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>DannyBee</author><text>The net outcome of this decision will be that nobody will create significant open platforms of this type anymore, because once you are successful you will no longer be able to have any control over the experience.  Someone will always be able to find a market that you are hurting.&lt;p&gt;If you actually read the decision that&amp;#x27;s essentially their underlying complaint.  They dress it up in terms about search market blah blah blah, but in the end it&amp;#x27;s really about whether Google is allowed to control the experience of Android phones that want to use the Google apps and app store or not.  
Android being open at all was already a fight inside Google, this decision will essentially make it impossible for anybody win that fight in the future. I can&amp;#x27;t see why anyone would  risk making an open platform again.  Success only has downsides versus Apple&amp;#x27;s model.
I expect the next major player here will either sell the operating system or sell the phones, and keep the other stuff closed</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>blub</author><text>Having worked for so many years at Google, you should be aware that your employer is forbidding Android manufacturers to also produce any non-certified Android-based devices. No Android logo, no app store, no GApps, still forbidden if that company happens to sell an unrelated Android device.&lt;p&gt;So in fact it is not about &amp;quot;whether Google is allowed to control the experience of Android phones that want to use the Google apps and app store or not&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;Regarding open source, Android v1 was an underpowered and underfeatured newcomer in a market dominated by Symbian and Blackberry where Windows was at a few percent and iOS was making inroads.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s a very good chance that without it being open source it would have went precisely nowhere. Let&amp;#x27;s not rewrite history and make it look like Android was a clear winner from the beginning, back then even iPhone was pretty crap, and Android was that times two.</text></comment>
<story><title>European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case</title><url>http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4581_en.htm</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>DannyBee</author><text>The net outcome of this decision will be that nobody will create significant open platforms of this type anymore, because once you are successful you will no longer be able to have any control over the experience.  Someone will always be able to find a market that you are hurting.&lt;p&gt;If you actually read the decision that&amp;#x27;s essentially their underlying complaint.  They dress it up in terms about search market blah blah blah, but in the end it&amp;#x27;s really about whether Google is allowed to control the experience of Android phones that want to use the Google apps and app store or not.  
Android being open at all was already a fight inside Google, this decision will essentially make it impossible for anybody win that fight in the future. I can&amp;#x27;t see why anyone would  risk making an open platform again.  Success only has downsides versus Apple&amp;#x27;s model.
I expect the next major player here will either sell the operating system or sell the phones, and keep the other stuff closed</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>codedokode</author><text>I cannot agree. The main problem is that Google has proprietary Google Play Services and instead of just selling it Google sets additional terms that prevent competition, like preinstalling competitors&amp;#x27; search engines, or competitors&amp;#x27; software. It is difficult to earn large profits in a competing market; but this is benefecial for consumers and their interests should be put before Google&amp;#x27;s.</text></comment>