The exclusive agreements with phone-makers like Apple Inc. That’s given it an insurmountable advantage over rivals, according to the government.
Since then it has also relied on its own products, like its Android mobile operating system, and exclusive agreements with device makers and mobile carriers to be the default search option for millions of users. Google began dominating online search 20 years ago with an algorithm that delivered better results than those of its rivals.
“Today, you can easily download your choice of apps or change your default settings in a matter of seconds - faster than you can walk to another aisle in the grocery store.”
“This isn’t the dial-up 1990s, when changing services was slow and difficult, and often required you to buy and install software with a CD-ROM,” he said. Users can also easily switch to other search engines on desktops and phones, Walker wrote. Other search engines are able to compete with Google for those deals, he said. Walker likened Google’s distribution agreements with phone makers and wireless carriers to the way a cereal brand would pay a supermarket to stock its products on a shelf at eye level. “People use Google because they choose to, not because they’re forced to, or because they can’t find alternatives,” Google Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker said in a blog post in response to the complaint. Google called the government’s case “deeply flawed” and said it would actually hurt consumers because it would “artificially prop up” lower-quality search options and raise phone prices. The search engine influences the fates of thousands of businesses online, which depend on Google to get in front of users. Google’s search business generates most of the company’s revenue and has funded its expansion into email, online video, smartphone software, maps, cloud computing, autonomous vehicles and display advertising. Bernstein, told investors that the firm sees “limited risk” to Google from the suit. Alphabet shares rose 1.4% to close at $1,551.08 in New York trading. Investors brushed off the complaint, which has been expected for weeks. A wave of private lawsuits is likely to follow the government’s case. A separate group of states, including Colorado and Iowa, is investigating Google’s search practices and said their probe will conclude in the coming weeks.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is preparing a complaint against the company over its conduct in the digital advertising market, where it controls much of the technology used by advertisers and publishers to buy and sell display ads across the web. The complaint is the first phase of what’s shaping up as a multipronged attack against Google. “If we let Google continue its anticompetitive ways, we will lose the next wave of innovators and Americans may never get to benefit from the ‘next Google.’” “No one can feasibly challenge Google’s dominance in search and search advertising,” Attorney General William Barr said.