"When Mehta first ruled on the case, he laid out what we all knew: "By 2020, [Google's share of the search market] was nearly 90%, and even higher on mobile devices at almost 95%. The second-place search engine, Microsoft's Bing, sees roughly 6% of all search queries - 84% fewer than Google. Google has not achieved market dominance by happenstance." "
"Mehta continued, "Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly." The bottom line: "In 2014, Google booked nearly $47 billion in advertising revenue. By 2021, that number had more than tripled to over $146 billion. Bing, by comparison, generated only a fraction of that amount - less than $12 billion in 2022." "
"In a similar case, way back in 1969, the mere threat of the DoJ breaking up IBM because it had monopolized the computer market by controlling both hardware and bundled software was enough to make Big Blue unbundle them. This move led to the proprietary software market, which would dominate the computer business until the rise of open source. It changed the IT world. The Google case could have been the same. "
"Just think about it. If Google were to abandon Android, every Android smartphone vendor worldwide would suddenly have to figure out what they'd do for an operating system. Go with whoever would end up controlling Android? What if it's Samsung and I'm one of the other Android smartphone OEMs? I don't think so! Does Samsung revive Tizen from the dead? Would the mobile phone companies check out KaiOS? Consider one of the non-Google"
Judge Mehta found Google held nearly 90% of search by 2020 and almost 95% on mobile, identifying Google as a monopolist that acted to maintain its monopoly. Advertising revenue grew from about $47 billion in 2014 to over $146 billion by 2021, while rivals like Bing generated far less. The imposed remedy stops short of structural breakup, leaving Google's core business intact. Historical precedent from the 1969 IBM antitrust threat shows forced unbundling can reshape industries. If Google lost control of Android, OEMs would need alternative operating systems, prompting consideration of Samsung reviving Tizen or moves to other platforms.
Read at Computerworld
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]