Microsoft caught flack not merely for including IE, but also for requiring OEMs like Dell to set IE as the default browser. Google deserves the same flack for e.g. their requirement that OEMs set Google Search as the default search engine.

AOSP does not include all these apps. Google says if you want to install play store on your device, you must also install all these apps. I think it's exactly the same as Microsoft's behavior with IE.

Microsoft had a monopoly. Google does not.

So both Apple and Google control the market, and each uses the "not a monopoly" excuse because of the other company.

There's no practical difference.

The key difference is the OEM license agreements. Google includes dubious requirements in their licensing terms, such as the anti-fragmentation clause. But Apple does not license their software to OEMs, and so cannot run afoul of antitrust IP licensing issues.

Many (or most?) bundled iOS apps can be removed https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204221

> Removing built-in iOS apps doesn't free up storage space on your device.

So it does the same as disabling them on Android.

The linked article was for iOS 10. iOS 11 deletes the apps properly: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208094

Hate to burst the bubble for you but Android has had this feature for a long, long time. I remember doing this on Android 4.3.

They have a duopoly [1]. The linked article explains what a duopoly is, and cites relevant examples. I can tell you of another very relevant US-centric example but its not in business: Republican and democrat.

The impact a duopoly has on a market is vastly different from a monopoly. One problem could be price fixing; but that could happen with more than 2 companies as well. Then we speak of a cartel.

The problem with a monopoly isn't per se that it exists; it becomes anti competitive business practices when the monopoly is abused to exercise control over other markets. I'd like to compare it with a benign tumor which ends up spreading.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duopoly

There is one difference: that’d be a Duopoly, not a Monopoly.

There is a huge practical difference and that is where their revenue comes from.

The EU is investigating Google over this right now. The hammer is coming. Margrethe Vestager (EU Competition Commissioner) isn't playing around.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1492_en.htm

Google will gladly pay the fine. Imagine the billions generated from search alone on Android.

You can have a monopoly. What you cannot do is to abuse it. Microsoft was punished for abusing its monopoly position, not for having one.