It sounds like this is only about google search. How can that be broken up? Or are they just going to get fined many billions of dollars and they lose their right to being the default search engine on iPhones?
The author is just focusing on this aspect bc that’s this case, but there’s multiple ongoing. E.g. there’s one about monopolistic practices in the online ad business.
Specifically here:
How does Google lock out rivals? Well, it pays $45 billion a year to have distributors refuse to carry its competitor’s products, signing deals with “Apple, LG, Motorola, and Samsung; major U.S. wireless carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon; and browser developers such as Mozilla, Opera, and UCWeb— to secure default status for its general search engine and, in many cases, to specifically prohibit Google’s counterparties from dealing with Google’s competitors.”
That sounds anticompetitive to me. But I understand that proving criminal anticompetitive behavior is extremely difficult under US law, which is why it almost never happens. And companies as large as Google can outpunch regulators on legal spending, paying ex-government lawyers millions per year to work around the rules.
> lose their right to being the default search engine on iPhones?
It would mean they can't PAY apple to make Google the default search engine. Apple would then (in theory) pick whichever search engine is best and not just play ball with Google's lock in. This would therefore enable competition. In theory.
Based on the article it sounds like Apple would default to their _own_ search engine, which they would bundle with their browser, which is the only browser option on their OS, which is the only OS option on their smartphone, the sales of which generate 85% of all profits in the global smartphone sector.
Unclear if Google would still be allowed to default to Google search on their reskinned version of Apple’s browser (branded as “Chrome”, even though it isn’t). But that’s mostly up to Apple, since they write the rules for the App Store, the only way to install software on Apple’s OS. Google might have to maintain their $45bn/year tribute for that privilege.
Specifically here: