Comment Re:"Dethroned if it stops innovating" (Score 1) 283
How are these examples Google's responsibility?
That was said in response to your previous statement:
Until Google reaches a point where it becomes virtually impossible to field a competing site successfully, I think the word 'monopoly' is a bit premature.
My point was that I believe that is the case already.
Windows and IE target the same customers - consumers of software.
While this might be correct that they both consume software, they are different markets. Not everyone using Windows will use a web browser, and not everyone using a web browser will use Windows. It is like saying that Google's search and advertising target the same customers - consumers of the Internet. Remember that the advertisers are also searchers (just wear different hats from time to time). Both instances seem to be two items that go hand in hand in people's minds today.
It could be stated that Google is stifling advancements in online advertising because the ad service is tied right in with search results (I'm not arguing that is wrong though), preventing other vendors from getting the market share on their service. To alleviate this, the EU will require Google to remove the advertisement feature from their web site and the user must choose if they want one of those services lol. I don't really think that is the problem per se. I think it is the ad service that is then sold to other web sites, which happens to be the same one used on their search site. Being that almost everyone uses google for search, they need to advertise on google. However, Google also makes money by then selling those ads to other third party sites. While I don't think this is wrong for them to do, other companies can look and claim that it is anti-competitive since this further cements their grips on the online advertising market. If someone advertises on Google, they also have the opportunity to show up on a vast array of other sites (a huge selling point). Explain how another competitor can come in to even compete? I'm not saying that Google is purposely doing so, but one has to understand that the government would need to keep an eye out to ensure that they aren't.