This article is more than 1 year old

Google whacked with another monopoly moan

Another day, another nation

Google has been hit with yet another competition complaint - this one accusing the search and ad giant of abusing its dominant position for mobile operating systems.

Two South Korean companies - NHN, which runs the country's largest search engine, and Daum Communications - have complained to the Fair Trade Commission of the Republic of Korea.

The two complain that Google is using its Android operating system market share unfairly to exclude other application makers who cannot get their software pre-loaded onto the phones. About seven out of ten new phones sold in Korea run on Android.

NHN told the FT: “Smartphones using the Android operating system have Google’s search engine installed as a default navigation tool while they are systematically designed to make it virtually impossible to switch to another option.”

The openess, or closedness, of Android is causing confusion more widely - with Google claiming Android is both open and closed.

Google faces more complaints in Europe - where Microsoft has made a competition complaint.

US regulators are also looking at Google, with both the FTC and DoJ considering action.

South Korea is also investigating Google's mass slurp of Wi-Fi data as part of its Street View scheme. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like