Russia: Yandex applauds EU probe into Google Android tying

The head of Russia’s largest search engine publicly supported the European Commission’s reported inquiry into Google’s practice of tying Google products with Android devices.

Yandex Chief Executive Officer Arkady Volozh said that he supports the Commission’s scrutiny of Google, adding that the EU’s probes have helped the Russian firm gain market share away from Google.

Reports emerged earlier this week that the Commission was looking into yet more allegations of anticompetitive conduct by the world’s largest search engine, this time regarding Google’s practice of having Android devices come pre-loaded with Google products like Google Maps and Chrome.

”This is very similar to what Microsoft Corp was doing a decade ago,” Volozh said. “They were trying to use dominance in operating systems to promote their Internet Explorer browser and were finally band from doing this. The same is now happening with Android – Google dominates in it and runs practices incompatible with fair competition.”

The Commission is looking into a complaint against Google’s tying practices filed by a group representing technology giants including Microsoft and Nokia Oyj. Reports say the Commission is likely to launch a formal investigation of the matter in the near future.

Full content: Bloomberg

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