Watchdogs monitor Google's Android monopoly controversy

By Lee Min-hyung

The nation’s regulators will step up monitoring of Google following the recent Android monopoly controversy in Europe.

“We are going to increase our monitoring of Google, after taking into account the European Commission’s (EC) recent decision that the U.S.-based IT giant has breached antitrust rules of the European Union (EU),” a Fair Trade Commission (FTC) official said Friday.

This came two days after the EC issued a statement of objection to Google, saying the company abused its dominant position by imposing restrictions on Android device makers.

The EC said Google has required Android smartphone manufacturers to install its applications, including the Google Chrome browser and Google Search, as a default search service, which is against EU antitrust regulations.

This has aroused strong reaction from the nation’s Internet industry. In 2013, the FTC cleared Google of the same charge filed by local Internet portal service operators Naver and Daum. The watchdog cited Google’s weak market share of some 10 percent as the reason for its decision.

The FTC is yet to decide whether it will investigate Google Korea, but the watchdog hinted at intensifying its monitoring.

“The FTC is now gathering information on similar cases overseas and will continue to monitor how our counterparts in other countries make their decisions over the issue,” the FTC official said.

“Regarding the pre-installed apps, we are in talks with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) to take other regulatory measures.”

The MSIP said it is also considering changing policies to reduce the number of such unnecessary apps for new Android handsets.

In January 2014, the ministry issued a guideline to rule out some pre-installed apps as a default search service, with the number having been reduced significantly over the past two years, according to the MSIP.

The Galaxy S7, released this year, comes with 11 apps, including Google Chrome, according to an MSIP official. The guideline worked well, given that there were some 80 pre-installed apps before it was adopted.

“We are planning to revise policies once the FTC unveils specific guidelines over the issue, and will continue to adopt measures to build a healthy Internet and mobile ecosystem,” the official said.

Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president and general counsel, said: “We look forward to working with the European Commission to demonstrate the careful way we’ve designed the Android model in a way that’s good for competition and for customers.”

He said many other companies installed their apps on smart devices.

“Any manufacturer can choose to load the suite of Google apps to their devices and freely add other apps as well,” he said. “For example, phones today come loaded with scores of pre-installed apps from Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Google, mobile carriers and more.”