If Android’s wings are clipped, other Google platforms may gain

Least likely

All of these activities will create foundations which Google can control, and which will support the continuous expansion of its plat-form, the element of all this which actually delivers revenues via services, applications, content and advertising.

Nope. It will not. In order to do these, it will leverage its "significant market power" (as defined in Eu competition law) in other areas. Trying to do this is a nearly automatic 10% of Google's worldwide turnover into the Greece rescue benevolent fund combined with regulatory intervention.

This is an essential difference between USA and Eu law:

1. Eu does not require a monopoly to intervene, having a sufficient market share to bend the market conditions is sufficient intervention grounds. Google has that in services, mobile OS, search and advertising - every single area mentioned in this write up.

2. Trying to leverage an area where you have a significant market power to "invade" another one is an automatic intervention. It may not happen today, it may not happen tomorrow, but it is guaranteed to happen and may be backdated by more than a decade for fine purposes if need be.

So yeah, sure, Google can try to strong arm its way into _ANY_ area it likes using existing assets. It is guaranteed to get whacked. Even the astronomical amount of money it has used to sponsor TTIP and friends will not help it here, because it is an _EXISTING_ legislation - so TTIP arbitrage rules do not apply.

It is one of the interesting aspects of Eu market - a player which has reached the "significant market power" criteria in one market is actually disadvantaged in entering new markets or expanding in markets where it is not in a pole position as it cannot leverage most of its existing assets. Compared to that a minor player can cross-bundle and leverage as much as they like - until they reach the "power" criteria in one of them.

Poor timing

ChromeOS just got Google Play, and millions of Android apps.

Oops.

They're spread too thinly

This is being typed on a Chrome browser, oddly enough, but I also have Firefox, where I do my, "secure," browsing because I can control cookies much more closely.

Google have fluffed everything up. Their UK spell checker on Docs is a joke and despite showing this to one of their engineers last year, it remains critically broken. They keep faffing around with the YouTube communities and their push to Red has effectively ripped the "you" out of YouTube. They show no sign of slowing this down, or actually like, listening to the community itself.

When given the choice, people are preferring to work in MS Office and, "upload," to Docs spaces rather than edit in docs itself. I can't reveal how I have come to this conclusion, for obvious reasons. Their Chromebooks lack key navigation buttons which makes them awkward to use, and rely on internet connections which is still a case of, "dream on," in the UK. Even the local synch is stuffed, especially with cached docs which are also collaborated on.

ChromeOS and Chrome appears to be a shifting tide and a perplexing combination of banning adverts while still managing to milk money from the advertisers. This appears to be a gravy train that isn't going to last forever. From where I'm sitting, there is a light at the end of the Google Tunnel.... but it's the light of a nuclear explosion which isn't far off hitting.

Oh, and apps can't be passed between accounts, so if you change e-mail address, then you've got a problem. I landed that one at Google's door a few months ago and have heard nothing.

There's also the issue that if you link your hangout to the wrong Google account, (because they usually all have the same icon, unless you've been smart beforehand and used different avatars for personal and work Google accounts) then you can't undo it. And good luck getting help from Google with that one.

I could go on... but Google services are an almighty mess from the consumer angle. I have a Chromecast as well.... it's sitting in a drawer, never to be used again.

Split the company

The obvious solution to the anti-trust issue is to force Google (Alphabet) to sell off ChromeOS and/or Android as separate, stand-alone companies. That has been done before in telecoms, e.g. when Ma Bell was split into the Baby Bells in the early '80s.

In fact they could go further and force Google to split off e.g. its Gmail, Search, Cloud, and all the rest. Not sure how much consumers would really benefit though.

people shown they like app(lication)s, not browsers

The overwhelming preference for applications instead pure browser based services on phones and tablets shown people prefer ways to perform a task quickly and proficiently instead of having to mess with a Jack-of-all-trades application still rooted in a 'page' display and hyperlink metaphor and which requires to download the whole app every time you use it, with severe data cap and security implications also.

Also, people may like to synch with a remote storage, but wish to have a copy locally also. You may not want to re-download the images you're going to show, or the music you want to play, every time.

That's why Android was better received than ChromeOS,

And news like companies cutting your 'free' space or changing other conditions of your remote services won't increase trust of relying too much on anything you can't control well enough.

"good luck getting help from Google with that one"

Has Google EVER provided ANY customer support to ANYONE?

I know everyone dropped Google Checkout because there was no way to get a live body to look at issues with your site's storefront. Since this killed sales because you can't make any if your store is broken, even Paypal looked better.

I also know I've submitted changes to Maps (like incorrect street names, incorrect one-way directions, closed businesses, etc) with photo and other evidence, and been basically ignored.

Wait, wait a minute...

Governments trying to gather data on citizens because "terrorists", a major company specializing in data gathering getting out of government control because of its myriad branches...

I think I saw that documentary!

Hail Hy... er, Alphabet!