Yandex, more commonly attributed to as Russia’s Google, proclaimed on Friday that it had requested the European Commission to investigate Google’s practices regarding the Android operating system in Europe.
The newest complain could strengthen Yandex’s case against Google and could just be enough to tip off the scale to EU antitrust regulators and eventually charge the company with anti-competitive business practices. Other accusations have also been made regarding the Google Shopping service.
The company is one of the few tech firms that have publicly complained against Android. It goes on to join US tech firm Disconnect, Portuguese app store Aptoide, and lobbying group FairSearch which includes members of Microsoft, Expedia, TripAdvisor and French price comparison site Twenga.
The formal request was reportedly filed in April 2015 and is very similar to the Russian company’s claims against the US firm in a Russian anti-monopoly case that Yandex won. The Russian company accuses Google of foul play regarding the fact that the search app from the US search giant should be pre-installed on all mobile devices running on its Android operating system.
We think that the Russian finding of abuse of dominance is instructive, and is a conclusion that can readily be adopted in other jurisdictions, including the EU,
Yandex said.
Yandex rivals Google, not just in Russia but also in Turkey and several other former Soviet republics. It said that the outcome of the European Commission’s investigation could largely effect its business development in Europe.
We hope the European Commission … offers their help in restoring fair competition and ensuring equal opportunity to pre-install mobile applications on Android-based devices not only for Google, but also for other developers,
it said.
In terms of market share, Yandex leads Google in Russia with a search market share of around 60 percent. The company has also been trickling abroad which is due to selling shares in a $1.3 billion initial public offering on Nasdaq in 2011.
