It appears that Google and the Microsoft Corporation are calling a truce—or maybe, at least, a cease fire—after European Union antitrust officials delivered the search engine and tech giant an objections statement; albeit one somewhat initiated by lobbying backed by Microsoft (for what its worth).
It is only the latest in a number of EU initiatives against Google over the past 12 months.
Still, the Seattle-based company has agreed to “withdraw its regulatory complaints against Google, reflecting our changing legal priorities,” adding, in a statement on Friday that they will “continue to focus on competing vigorously for business and for customers.”
Part of the much larger Alphabet Inc, Google was accused, on Wednesday, of abusing its position as the global leader in mobile phone software to restrict search and web programs to benefit them more than other developers, affecting billions of users in the process.
The European Union has had their cross-hairs on Android device software since 2013 after an industry group—backed, at the time, by Microsoft and Nokia—filed a regulatory complaint. Thus, the European Union opened a formal probe just last year to investigate Google’s apparent anti-competitive behavior in the mobile industry since as far back as 2011.
You may recall that prior to this investigation, Google and Microsoft had a few patent disputes; they have since been resolved. Of course, this resolution could come more readily as Google faces penalties of up to $7 billion. This could equal roughly 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue so the stakes are pretty high for settling this quickly.
With all this now in the open and, hopefully, fully resolved, the Mountain View, CA-based technology company has now said, honorably, “Our companies compete vigorously, but we want to do so on the merits of our products, not in legal proceedings.”
In turn, Microsoft has made an official statement, listing “[We have] agreed to withdraw its regulatory complaints against Google, reflecting our changing legal priorities. We will continue to focus on competing vigorously for business and for customers.”
Healthy competition is good for customers so with this behind them, Google/Android (Alphabet) can again focus on delivering quality content and products to their dedicated user base.