Is Google Maps a separate product that's being illegal tied to web search? Or is it actually a search engine for physical places, an integrated part of the one unified Google Search Engine? It could be argued either way, but if you try and imagine what it'd take to make Google Maps "pluggable" in google.com search .... well, that would be a tremendous technical challenge. Competitors would have to be able to process every web search Google does, to decide if it contains a location. That's a lot of traffic. And they have to respond as fast as Google's own servers, despite not being in the same buildings. This sort of thing suggests they're really one unified product, but I doubt such technical details would have much impact on what is a fundamentally political process.
Re:Google should be broken up, say European MPs
by rtpg on Thursday November 27, 2014 @08:37AM
(#8667186)
I always thought that anti-trust laws kicked in when the power was abused, so to speak.
Re:Google should be broken up, say European MPs
by tomp on Thursday November 27, 2014 @08:44AM
(#8667223)
Power is abused here, though. Google is using it's monopoly/dominant market position in search to build up it's market share in maps/local/social/whatever.
Re:Google should be broken up, say European MPs
by mike_hearn on Thursday November 27, 2014 @11:12AM
(#8667779)
That's a highly controversial and tricky argument to make, though.
Re:Google should be broken up, say European MPs
by tomjen3 on Thursday November 27, 2014 @11:41AM
(#8667935)
No, search is also for things like positions, local businesses, etc. And no I don't want to be prompted to customize my google experience by choosing any of X providers for maps, etc. I want the answer to my gooddam search query, stat.
That changes once a company becomes a monopoly, specifically because it leads to market distortion. We've got rules against this sort of thing for a reason…