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The
comments by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager
follow a year-long investigation into Android, the world's most
popular operating system for smartphones, triggered by two
complaints.
A decision on the shopping service could come this year. Like
the Android case, it could lead to a fine of up to $7.4 billion
or 10 percent of Google's 2015 revenue, and force it to change
its business practices.
Vestager said big companies should not try to protect themselves
by holding back innovation.
"That's why we're looking closely at Google's contracts with
phone makers and operators which use the Android operating
system," she said at a conference organized by the Dutch
competition authority.
"Our concern is that, by requiring phone makers and operators to
pre-load a set of Google apps, rather than letting them decide
for themselves which apps to load, Google might have cut off one
of the main ways that new apps can reach customers."
The Commission said last year that it was also investigating
whether Google had prevented smartphone and tablet manufacturers
from developing and marketing modified and potentially competing
versions of Android.
Another area of concern was whether Google had illegally
hindered the development and market access of rival applications
and services by bundling some of its applications and services
distributed on Android devices with other Google products.
(Reporting By Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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