FairSearch backs Russia’s Yandex claim vs Google’s monopoly

MOSCOW, Mar 6 (PRIME) -- FairSearch, an alliance of smartphone and software makers, like Nokia, Oracle and Microsoft, has supported claims of Russia’s Internet giant Yandex to Google, FairSearch said late Thursday in a statement.

“Google’s anti-competitive behavior in mobile stems directly from Google’s business strategy of ‘open, dominate, close’ that it has applied successfully to dominate the search sector worldwide, and is now using to extend its search monopoly into other services,” the alliance said.

“Mobile search has in fact become the battleground for the provision of new services and technologies, as it surpassed desktop use in 2014: mobile has become the preferred tool at work and for all communications – private or business related.”

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service opened a case against Google last month following a claim submitted by Yandex, which had asked the antitrust authority to check violations of the antimonopoly law. Yandex said the U.S. giant allegedly uses its unique position in mobile operating systems to promote services that have nothing to do with the operating system.

FairSearch said Google’s dominance has given it unprecedented power over mobile phone manufacturers, who often have only the unpalatable choice of agreeing to Google bundling an ever growing number of its own services into Android. “Google has used its power to hurt small and big competitors by attempting to muscle them out of the market. Google restricts choice and causes harm to the innovative app industry and consumers,” the alliance said.

“The problems created by Google extend beyond the E.U. and Russia, impacting innumerable companies. Failure to redress Google’s abuse of its dominant position in mobile will allow this monopolist to push competitors out of this dynamic market.”

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