Europe Opens Probe of Google’s Android

European regulators opened a second front in their antitrust probe of Google Inc., launching a formal investigation of whether the U.S. Internet company used its position as the maker of Android, the most popular software operating system for smartphones, to favor other Google apps and services.

“Smartphones, tablets and similar devices play an increasing role in many people’s daily lives and I want to make sure the markets in this area can flourish without anticompetitive constraints imposed by any company,” said the European Commission’s antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager.
The new investigation of Android came as the commission filed formal charges against Google for allegedly abusing its position as the leading search engine by favoring its own Shopping service, after a separate five-year investigation.

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