A settlement between the search firm and the European Union takes shape
WITHIN a few days the future of Google has come into slightly sharper focus.
In one respect, almost literally so: on April 15th the search giant said that it
was about to start sending Google Glass—a computer resembling spectacles, with a
display before the user’s eyes—to developers eager to create applications for
it. The firm has also published Glass’s technical specifications and the rules
for developers. Among other things, Glass apps must be free of advertising. Nor
may data from them be used for advertisements.
One day this may change: ads, after all, are how Google makes its money. But
far more important for now is the extra clarity about how Google will conduct
business in the European Union. More than three years after Joaquín Almunia, the
EU’s competition commissioner, first received formal complaints that Google was
abusing its dominance of online search, the commissioner and the company have
agreed on how Google should change its ways. As expected, Google is conceding
more to Mr Almunia than it has to America’s Federal Trade Commission, which
completed its own investigation in January. It will also avoid formal charges
and fines.
