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Android in lawmaker crosshairs as FTC's Google probe intensifies

August 11, 2011 — 9:46am ET | By Jason Ankeny

The Wall Street Journal reports that six weeks after the Federal Trade Commission first served Google with broad subpoenas, FTC lawyers (in partnership with several state attorneys general) are now probing to see whether Google is preventing its manufacturing partners from supporting competitors' digital services across Android-powered devices. FTC lawyers are also investigating how Android's increasing influence is boosting Google's dominance in web search services. Google is the default search engine across the majority of Android products.

Google has denied it is engaging in illegal or anti-competitive practices and suggests that federal inquiries into its business are the result of rival angst over its push into new market segments and technologies. "We understand that with success comes scrutiny," said a Google spokesperson. "We're happy to answer any questions they have about our business." An FTC spokesperson declined to comment.

The FTC probe follows in the wake of a lawsuit filed in September 2010 by location services firm Skyhook Wireless, which alleges Google "wielded its control over the Android operating system, as well as other Google mobile applications such as Google Maps, to force device manufacturers to use its technology rather than that of Skyhook, to terminate contractual obligations with Skyhook and to otherwise force device manufacturers to sacrifice superior end user experience with Skyhook by threatening directly or indirectly to deny timely and equal access to evolving versions of the Android operating system and other Google mobile applications."

Google has called the Skyhook suit a "baseless complaint." In May, a Massachusetts state judge denied Google's request to either dismiss the Skyhook case or grant a summary judgment.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg Businessweek reported Google has attempted to delay the release of Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) Android devices featuring Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing search engine. In mid-April, South Korean search portal providers NHN Corp. and Daum Communications Corp. filed a complaint with the nation's Fair Trade Commission alleging that Google is limiting their access to Android smartphones. "Through a marketing partnership with major smartphone producers, Google has prohibited other market players from preinstalling their search window or related applications," NHN said in a statement.

Manufacturers shipped 51.9 million Android units in the second quarter of 2011, a 379 percent year-over-year increase, according to Canalys data issued earlier this month. Android is now the leading smartphone platform in 35 of the 56 nations that Canalys tracks, with 85 percent market share in South Korea and 71 percent share in Taiwan.

For more:
- read this Wall Street Journal article