Cause they don't want to be beholden to Apple in the mobile space.

More like Microsoft. Google's nightmare was that Microsoft would control the mobile phone OS, and would use it to drive search results to Bing.

At the time, Apple had the dominant smartphone, not Microsoft.

True. But Microsoft was coming. They were not yet clearly a loser in phones.

The Google Android skeptics would prefer exactly that. Their ideal is that Android - as we know it today - collapses and Google loses its position with the product and in the mobile market. The fantasy is that then a truly free, pure, saintly solution can spring up and smite the evil money grubbing commercial interests. That's likely to have about as much success as desktop Linux among mass consumers (and for the same reason).

The sole thing that collapsing Google's Android position will do, is redistribute a lot of that market power and tech ecosystem benefit to a few other US tech giants, some Chinese tech giants and possibly to a lesser extent to some European players and Samsung. The US would net lose a considerable hegemony. As such, the US Government - State Dept, NSA, CIA, et al. - should get involved on a strategic economic security basis, and attack a very large EU company in a manner that is crippling (something worse than the Volkswagen emissions hit). We're in the midst of an economic war with the EU, the more vicious parts of the US Government need to start getting involved. At a minimum, find an excuse to perhaps take down eg Deutsche Bank, it's particularly weak, so a $10 or $15 billion invented magic fine would probably be enough to force its collapse and nationalization.

The US has already fined Deutsche Bank $7.2bn and BNP Paribas $8.9bn. At the time, many in Europe felt that the fines were excessive and that the existential threats used to discourage the use of the courts amounted to extortion. It was also seen by some as a form of protectionism.

If we don't want to descend into nationalist mudslinging (or even war mongering) we have to consider each individual case based on its own merits. I think at least here on Hacker News we owe each other as much.

I don't see why we'd owe each other that much here as opposed to everywhere else in our lives.

That's why I said "at least here", i.e not opposed to everywhere else, but my expectations of a very international community like this one with an analytical bent are higher than of some other places I had in mind.

Anyway, you are right of course that we do owe each other that everywhere.

This is a Google talking point, and a laughable one at that. The list of complainants is full of American companies. Here's DuckDuckGo for example:

https://twitter.com/DuckDuckGo/status/1019562507294461953

> The Google Android skeptics would prefer exactly that.

Citation needed.

> The fantasy is [..] evil money grubbing commercial interests.

What are you even on about?

>desktop Linux

What does "desktop Linux" have to do with anything in this context?

> The US would net lose [..] hegemony [..] State Dept, NSA, CIA, et al. - should get involved [..] an economic war with the EU ...

Or, less bat-shit insane, the US government could look at how different blocs implement anti-trust and consumer protection, and extend those to its own citizens.

> invented magic fine

Or Google could just have obeyed the law, American.

I personally enjoy how Google, Apple, Microsoft, et al are American companies when Europe fines them, and then are magically Irish companies when it's tax day in the US.

Despite what the administration wants you to believe, we are not at "economic war" with our closest allies and trading partners.