Re: Google gives everything away for free, so how in heaven can EU extort google ?
You're probably (if you ever come back to look) wondering why you've been downvoted.
The problem you demonstrate so well is that Google have built this huge image of offering "free" services. They don't - nothing from Google is free, the cost may not be monetary, but there is a real cost.
There are several aspects to their behaviour that are worthy of note.
The main one is their ability to cross fund anything they like from their huge income - basically they can enter any market they choose and "buy share" in a way that no other company (not even Microsoft) can manage. Microsoft used to do that, and were found guilty of it in the US IIRC. Such behaviour is illegal both in the US and Europe because it allows a big player to increase it's dominance by targetting and eradicating smaller competitors - Google, Microsoft, IBM, Standard Oil, ... Google hasn't been found guilty (yet), IBM (if memory serves me right) got the case dropped after many years of preparation right after a new president was elected - one that IBM had provided much funds to during the election campaign. Hmm, IBM funding a president and getting a case dropped, Google funding a president ...
But in this case, it's the question of whether their action has harmed consumer choice. If every* Android device must come bundled with all the Google apps (which the user can't even remove) then that distorts competition. Firstly, it's hard to make money selling mousetraps if some b'stard is giving them away free (c.f. Microsoft and internet exploder which was also bundled, made non-removable, and given away free) - so other companies will struggle to sell enough of an app to cover the cost of development. That means there is less choice available.
Secondary to that, there is the issue that all these bundled apps aren't free - they all slurp your data so that Google can sell you to their real customers, the advertisers. It's really really really hard to prevent this leakage - and that's by design because the last thing Google wants is for users to actually have any privacy from them.
* Excluding the small number that come without any of the stuff
Biting the hand that feeds IT
