BY Pascal Oparada
Google CEO, Sundar Pichai says the company will appeal record fine from EU ruling. This means Google isn’t going down without a fight.
The search engine giant just received a record $5 billion fine from the European Union over monopolizing the search engine on Android phones, which the commission said illegally “cemented its dominant position” for search engines.
Although there isn’t a clear answer for whether Google is a monopoly, the ruling plainly shows that Google is at least a monopoly in searches.
But in a blog post, Google CEO, Sundar Pichai argued against the decision and said that the company would appeal the EU’s determination.
“The free distribution of the Android platform, and of Google’s suite of applications, is not only efficient for phone makers and operators – it’s of huge benefit for developers and consumers,” Pichai wrote.
“If phone makers and mobile network operators couldn’t include our apps on their wide range of devices, it would upset the balance of the Android ecosystem. So far, the Android business model has meant that we haven’t had to charge phone makers for our technology, or depend on a tightly controlled distribution model.”
His post, however, seems to reinforce the EU’s decision. Pichai dedicates a whole section of his post to reminding people how Google created the platform in the first place and how its many apps are preloaded onto phones simply because doing so makes people’s lives easier.
“A healthy, thriving Android ecosystem is in everyone’s interest, and we’ve shown we’re willing to make changes,” Pichai wrote.
“But we are concerned that today’s decision will upset the careful balance that we have struck with Android, and that it sends a troubling signal in favour of proprietary systems over open platforms.”
Pichai is clearly indignant over being called out.The $5 billion fine is merely a slap on the wrist for a company that held $464 billion in cash last year.
