Google has announced that it will start asking European Android users which browser and search engine they would prefer to use on their devices, following regulatory action against the company for the way it bundles software in its mobile operating system. Last year Google was fined a record $5 billion by EU regulators for violating antitrust laws and was ordered to stop “illegally tying” Chrome and its search app to Android.
Google’s initial response was to start charging manufacturers licensing fees for the Play Store and other apps while offering the option to include Chrome and the Google search app in the overall package for free. Now, SVP of global affairs Kent Walker says in a blog post, Google will go one step further by offering users of “existing and new Android devices in Europe” a direct choice of services.
“On Android phones, you’ve always been able to install any search engine or browser you want, irrespective of what came pre-installed on the phone when you bought it,” Walker says. “In fact, a typical Android phone user will usually install around 50 additional apps on their phone ... Now we’ll also do more to ensure that Android phone owners know about the wide choice of browsers and search engines available to download to their phones.”
Google hasn’t said when this will happen beyond “over the next few months,” nor has it said which competing products will be highlighted. The move will draw inevitable comparison to Microsoft’s “browser ballot” web page that it showed to Internet Explorer users in 2010 to comply with a similar European Commission ruling. Microsoft retired the page in 2014 after its obligation expired.
Comments
I guess this should now be dubbed the Stupid Windows Solution after the MS "browser choice" option – the one in which the EU was happy customers were given a choice which they already had (downloading a new browser).
Android users already have the choice of which browser and search engine to use. Even if you use Chrome just go into settings and you can choose several different search engines (on my phone Yahoo, Bing & Duckduckgo), as for browsers I use Firefox – takes seconds to install.
I am not sure whether it is the EU or google who have decided that the majority of EU customers must be terminally stupid, but to seriously propose this as a "solution" one of them has to have come to that conclusion
By justin150 on 03.20.19 3:23am
How do you do the same for the Google search bar across the middle of your home screen?
By merlotisred on 03.20.19 3:40am
Well, you can either remove that search bar or change your launcher if it’s forced (like with the Pixel Launcher apparently I’m wrong with that, oops).
Many search engines have an app that can act as a replacement of the Google app and some have their own widget. Or even better, don’t use two apps and directly open your browser.
By MKody on 03.20.19 3:54am
Assuming you wanted to use an inferior search engine, you can simply change the default search engine in settings. Just like everything else.
By ardent on 03.20.19 5:42am
A user on The Verge didn’t know that. Now imagine the rest of the freaking EU. There are millions of people that don’t bother to change settings on their phones simply because they don’t know it’s an option, don’t bother, etc. Companies know this and abuse default settings to make people share more data than they would normally be willing. Google uses it to increase app adoption, data gathering and therefore further increase their lead in the market.
Microsoft has been basically pleading it’s customers to stop using Internet Explorer for the last few years. A huge number of people just use whatever is set as default app and don’t question it unless actively asked to make a change. That’s a fact.
By ferroso on 03.20.19 1:38pm
Hopefully that will be changed too.
By Dr Strange on 03.20.19 6:38am
You can already change the search bar.
By KidAKidB on 03.20.19 8:21am
You can replace that with a different search widget. It’s pretty simple actually.
By KidAKidB on 03.20.19 8:21am
You install a launcher like Nova. I haven’t had a search bar on my home screen in years.
By cometguy on 03.20.19 11:11am
Precisely – replace the launcher. It’s the only method I have found if you want the damn thing gone. That is hardly obvious, friendly or easy for a regular mom or pop user (cue all the Verge readers telling me how so simple it is to do xyz to their phone).
By merlotisred on 03.20.19 1:18pm
It’s not stupidity per se, just a lack of knowledge/interest in technical details. You have to remember the average person has no clue what version of an OS they are using, much less actually looks forward to a system update. This approach is probably the best way for Google to ensure that users know there is a choice when said users would otherwise probably/likely be using whatever is pre-installed on the phone.
By Matthew Benson on 03.20.19 3:49am
"..just a lack of knowledge/interest in technical details."
I’m not sure how that changes with this action. How will people choose if they lack knowledge or interest in technical details? My guess is they will choose the search engine they know, google.
By low_tech on 03.20.19 8:16am
That may be true but at least people will be equipped with more information at their finger tips to make a more informed choice.
Yeah it’s information that’s already out there but most people don’t know that they should care enough to inform themselves with it.
By JediTed on 03.20.19 8:56am
This is odd as well. I’m agreeing with you before I go on.
I find it strange because if an end-user doesn’t know about different browser options, then they should be using the default. They won’t think "Oh let me go download another browser".
If an end-user knows about different browsers, they won’t feel deceived into thinking Chrome is the only browser.
So what’s the real issue? That’s my question for the EU Government that made the decision.
By Timeless90 on 03.20.19 2:06pm
If you don’t know how to research such a simple process, then, yes, you are stupid. There’s nothing technical about it. You look it up and follow the instructions. Basic research is something taught to middle schoolers in the 1990s. How is it that, in 2019, we’re giving a pass to such ignorance?
By General Novirius on 03.20.19 9:33am
This!! I was taught in highschool how to research. We had computers around this time (2008-ish), but my teachers wanted us to research using books. So if someone doesn’t know how to properly research, I can’t agree that they took from school what they should have took.
That, and people are quick to wreck people for being smart being all like "bookworm", and "smart-azz", and stupid shit like that. So nah, if you don’t know how your phone works you get all the default settings!! You don’t get a choice. LoL!!
By Timeless90 on 03.20.19 2:09pm
Americans often don’t understand this.
It’s not about being "able" to choose another browser. It’s about the fact that Google (and previously Microsoft) use their powerful position to railroad consumers into using their browser.
By hefferj on 03.20.19 4:08am
The same could be said for Apple in to railroading users to using Apple music instead of Spotify. I will be seriously surprised if the EU don’t look at Apple next.
By axellink on 03.20.19 4:54am
Apple doesn’t have a monopoly
By Dr Strange on 03.20.19 6:35am
Neither does Google
By droidface on 03.20.19 7:06am
Yes, they do in the EU.
By Dr Strange on 03.20.19 7:54am
Google’s claim is that their monopoly on search isn’t actionable because "competition is only a click away."
seems hard to disagree. What is the actual reasoning, and does it make sense or is it just lawfare?
The claim that they have a monopoly on digital advertising is much weaker. Do they even have half of that market? Certainly they don’t have more in EU than elsewhere.
By emil.shitalkovic on 03.20.19 11:10am
You don’t need to be a monopoly to get caught up in anti-trust.
By KidAKidB on 03.20.19 8:21am
They never look at Apple, back in 2009 there’s a Universal Charging Solution which force every smartphone manufacturer to adopt MicroUSB as a standard method of charging. Every smartphone manufacturer did except Apple. But EU did nothing. So it’s not new. When it’s come to Apple the close their eyes. May be Apple bribe them.
By Kashif Nawaz on 03.20.19 9:16am
UCS mandated that any phone could charge from any other manufacturer’s phone charger, via a USB A port. Apple complies.
By merlotisred on 03.20.19 1:25pm