Enlarge / Let’s have a look at, you landed on my “Google Advertisements” house, and with three homes… that shall be $1,400. (credit score: Ron Amadeo / Hasbro)
Google’s newest antitrust headache is coming from the US authorities, which is beginning to take problem with how Google bundles Google Maps and restricts builders from utilizing competing companies. Nothing’s official but, however Reuters’ sources say the US Justice Division “breathed new life into an investigation of Google Maps to find out if bundling the service along with different Google software program illegally stifles competitors.”
The DOJ investigation is anxious with two Google Maps methods. The primary is surprisingly all about Android Automotive—word that this isn’t Android Auto, the telephone app. Android Automotive (totally spelled out) is a full working system producers can ship on their vehicles. We coated it on the Polestar 2 final 12 months. Like on telephones, Google bundles its apps on Android Automotive. Google Maps is a killer app in a automotive, but when producers need Google Maps, Google requires them to take the Play Retailer, the Google Assistant, YouTube Music, and every other automotive apps the corporate makes. The Justice Division is anxious that this requirement stifles competitors.
What’s shocking about this transfer by the DOJ is that the US by no means made Google do something about app bundling on telephones, which is a a lot bigger market. Android Automotive is a really new, very restricted OS, out there on solely round 10 autos, just like the Polestar 2, different Volvo autos just like the XC40 Recharge, the GMC Hummer EV, and shortly 2023 Ford autos. Android, in the meantime, is on about 2.5 billion telephones worldwide. The US has gone after Google for limiting app retailer competitors on Android, paying to be the default search engine on most platforms, selling its personal companies in search, and anticompetitive habits within the promoting market. However Google remains to be free to bundle its apps on telephones.
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