BRUSSELS (AP) — A group of companies led by Microsofthave called on European authorities to
launch an antitrust investigationinto Google and its hold over mobile internet usage on
smartphones.The"FairSearch" initiative of 17 companies — which includes Microsoft,Nokia, and
Oracle —claims Google is acting unfairly by giving away itsAndroid operating system to mobile device
companies on the conditionthat the U.S. online giant’s own software applications like YouTube andGoogle
Maps are installed and prominently displayed."Google isusing its Android mobile operating system as
a Trojan horse to deceivepartners, monopolize the mobile marketplace, and control consumer
data,"said Thomas Vinje, the group’s Brussels-based lawyer.Androidoperating systems have the
largest share of the smartphone marketworldwide, followed by Apple’s iOS platform with systems
fromBlackberry, Microsoft and others far behind."Google’s predatorydistribution of Android at
below-cost makes it difficult for otherproviders of operating systems to recoup investments in competing
withGoogle’s dominant mobile platform," FairSearch said in a statement.TheEuropean Commission, the
27-nation bloc’s executive arm and antitrustauthority, is not obliged to take any action other than
reply to thegroup’s complaint.Google Inc. did not address the complaint’scharges in detail. "We
continue to work cooperatively with the EuropeanCommission," said Google spokesman Al Verney.The
U.S. company isalready under investigation by Brussels for practices related to itsdominance of online
search and advertising markets.Thatcomplaint, launched in 2010, alleges Google unfairly favors its
ownservices in its Internet search results, which enjoy a near-monopoly inEurope. Google has proposed a
list of remedies to address theCommission’s concerns to achieve a settlement. The Commission iscurrently
examining the proposed changes.In China, Google has already come under official scrutiny because of
Android’s dominance of the mobile smartphone market there.SeveralEuropean data privacy regulators have
also launched an investigationinto Google’s practices, alleging the company is creating a datagoldmine
at the expense of unwitting users.Last year, the companymerged 60 separate privacy policies from around
the world into oneuniversal procedure. The European authorities complain that the newpolicy doesn’t
allow users to figure out which information is kept, howit is combined by Google services or how long
the company retains it.Thepolicy allows Google to combine data collected from one person as theyuse
Google’s services, from Gmail to YouTube, giving it a powerful toolfor targeting users with advertising
based on their interests and searchhistory. Advertising is the main way the company makes its
money.___Toby Sterling in Amsterdam contributed reporting.___Follow Juergen Baetz on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jbaetzCopyright 2013
The Associated Press.