4 ms·

The EU doesn't have American style antitrust law that only kicks in and places restrictions on allowable behavior when you have a large enough monopoly. The EU

The EU doesn't have American style antitrust law that only kicks in and places restrictions on allowable behavior when you have a large enough monopoly. The EU has competition law that places restrictions on how you can behave as soon as you have a 40% share of a given market. Under EU competition law, once you have that 40% market share in one area, you may not use that market share as a weapon against competitors in other areas.

gowld 8y ago
As you describe it, it is the same style, but the market fraction is a lower number.
- GeekyBear 8y ago
  >As you describe it, it is the same style, but the market fraction is a lower number. The intent is different too. The EU is looking to protect a healthy level of competition in the marketplace, while we in the US have moved the goalposts to "can you prove this particular monopoly is doing consumers harm"?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - bepotts 8y ago
    Which allows companies that produce superior services to thrive. Want more money? Create better goods and services - don't rely on the government to harm the market leader just to give you a heads up. America's "hands off" approach to regulation has allowed the country to produce companies that much of the world envies.
    - GeekyBear 8y ago
      You are perfectly free to produce a superior product or service that achieves a near total share of the market. That is not what is illegal. However, once you hit a certain market share (40% in the EU) you may no longer use that market share as a weapon against competitors in other areas.
- AnssiH 8y ago
  In this case, though, Google is alleged to be dominant in "general internet search services, licensable smart mobile operating systems and app stores for the Android mobile operating system" (per EC press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4581_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4581_en.htm). I think Google has 90%+ market share in all of those, at least in Europe.
  - arcticfox 8y ago
    > Google is alleged to be dominant in "licensable smart mobile operating systems and app stores for the Android mobile operating system" That's kind of a weird statement, of course they are dominant / monopolistic on Android, just like Apple has a monopoly on iOS.
    - bluGill 8y ago
      Android is dominate in cell phones, even if you count the iphone. I don't know the numbers for the EU, but worldwide Android is larger than the 40% threshold to be considered a monopoly in the EU.
      - gervase 8y ago
        If you're interested, 2018 statistics show Android's share of the smartphone space as 54% in the US, 73% in Europe, and 88% globally, all above the 40% threshold.
    - AnssiH 8y ago
      Maybe the formatting wasn't entirely clear, but "licensable smart mobile operating systems" and "app stores for the Android mobile operating system" are two different categories. As for the latter being a thing but Apple not getting into trouble for their iOS App Store monopoly, I guess that is because Apple isn't using that "dominant position" to prop up a dominant position in another market (like Google is propping up their dominance in search engines). Or maybe the overall consumer harm is considered to be much smaller, considering that Android has 80% smart mobile device market share in Europe (according to the EC press release), and iOS has a much smaller share.

gowld 8y ago

As you describe it, it is the same style, but the market fraction is a lower number.

GeekyBear 8y ago
>As you describe it, it is the same style, but the market fraction is a lower number. The intent is different too. The EU is looking to protect a healthy level of competition in the marketplace, while we in the US have moved the goalposts to "can you prove this particular monopoly is doing consumers harm"?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- bepotts 8y ago
  Which allows companies that produce superior services to thrive. Want more money? Create better goods and services - don't rely on the government to harm the market leader just to give you a heads up. America's "hands off" approach to regulation has allowed the country to produce companies that much of the world envies.
  - GeekyBear 8y ago
    You are perfectly free to produce a superior product or service that achieves a near total share of the market. That is not what is illegal. However, once you hit a certain market share (40% in the EU) you may no longer use that market share as a weapon against competitors in other areas.
AnssiH 8y ago
In this case, though, Google is alleged to be dominant in "general internet search services, licensable smart mobile operating systems and app stores for the Android mobile operating system" (per EC press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4581_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4581_en.htm). I think Google has 90%+ market share in all of those, at least in Europe.
- arcticfox 8y ago
  > Google is alleged to be dominant in "licensable smart mobile operating systems and app stores for the Android mobile operating system" That's kind of a weird statement, of course they are dominant / monopolistic on Android, just like Apple has a monopoly on iOS.
  - bluGill 8y ago
    Android is dominate in cell phones, even if you count the iphone. I don't know the numbers for the EU, but worldwide Android is larger than the 40% threshold to be considered a monopoly in the EU.
    - gervase 8y ago
      If you're interested, 2018 statistics show Android's share of the smartphone space as 54% in the US, 73% in Europe, and 88% globally, all above the 40% threshold.
  - AnssiH 8y ago
    Maybe the formatting wasn't entirely clear, but "licensable smart mobile operating systems" and "app stores for the Android mobile operating system" are two different categories. As for the latter being a thing but Apple not getting into trouble for their iOS App Store monopoly, I guess that is because Apple isn't using that "dominant position" to prop up a dominant position in another market (like Google is propping up their dominance in search engines). Or maybe the overall consumer harm is considered to be much smaller, considering that Android has 80% smart mobile device market share in Europe (according to the EC press release), and iOS has a much smaller share.