Google in the Apple App Store
The US Department of Justice has ruled that Google is an illegal monopolist, which could lead to the breakup of parent company Alphabet or the obligation to share data with competitors, while undermining Google Gemini's advantage.
Google is a word synonymous with web search, and for good reason. It has dominated the space for decades and uses that dominant position to ensure that competitors can never fully catch up.
At least that's the way it is the ruling from the US Department of Justice. And according to sources speaking to Bloomberga fracture may be necessary.
There are numerous points in time when Google could have achieved a monopoly. Some say it's been a long time since people started using the word “Google” to mean search, while others look at the Rebranding of Alphabet from 2015.
Anyway, Google is huge. While Google Search and text search ads are at the center of this problem, they’re not the only parts of the company that are under scrutiny.
The anonymous sources suggest that Android could be a prime target for Alphabet’s divestment. The operating system is licensed by the company but requires things like Chrome and Gmail to be pre-installed and can’t be removed, for example.
Alphabet also owns products like YouTube, Waze and the new Google-made AI Gemini. It’s unclear how deep a split would go or which businesses would go where, but a divestment of Android could encompass more than just the operating system.
Another option would be to force Google to provide access to its search data. The EU Digital Markets Act already requires this of Google, and a US requirement could have an even greater impact on competitors.
Of course, there is also the option of splitting up Alphabet and sharing search data. No official decisions have been made in the case.
Whatever happens, it is clear that exclusive contracts as between Google and Apple will no longer be possible. Which in turn has forced Apple to seek more revenue from services from sources such as Patreon subscriptions.