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How can this be legal? Google is effectively using it's dominant market position in mobile apps stores, mapping and search to remove from the market other compa
by cornholio 9y ago
How can this be legal? Google is effectively using it's dominant market position in mobile apps stores, mapping and search to remove from the market other compatible operating systems. Derived from the same open source core as it's own, but that is irrelevant for this discussion, they are not licensed Android versions, therefore they are compatible competitors.
- cma 9y agoThey already went down this road with Daydream. I think it is even more restrictive.
- khedoros1 9y agoIt seems more like a move to control their own software licenses. If a device isn't licensed to run GApps, then why should it be allowed to use the services? And from another direction, if a manufacturer refuses Google's terms for including the software, then why should that manufacturer get the benefit of being able to include the software, outside of its licensing terms?
- bitmapbrother 9y agoPerhaps you should first start off by answering in what world is it legal for shady OEM's and middlemen to pre-install proprietary Google Play Services on devices that weren't certified by Google.
- cornholio 9y agoI'm not entirely sure you are following my point: it's illegal to install that software precisely because Google has restricted their use on competitor platforms. In the general case, there is nothing wrong with licensing your code as you see fit, however when you have a market dominant position things change dramatically from a regulatory perspective. See the repeated run-ins Microsoft had with competition regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. The point to debate is whether Google has a dominat position in say search. Not if "this world" grants a right to unfettered anticompetitve and monopolist business practices - it does not.