Brussels, 09/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - A group of competitors, including Microsoft, Oracle, Nokia, Expedia and Tripadvisor, members of the FairSearch coalition, announced on 9 April that they have lodged a complaint against Google with the European Commission for anti-competitive practices in Google's use of its operating system for mobile phones, Android. The companies claim that Google is using Android, which is the most widely used operating system for mobile phones, as a Trojan horse to deceive its partners, monopolise the mobile phone market and get control over consumer information. They are unhappy with Google's rules for manufacturers using Android and want Google's flagship applications Maps, Youtube and Play to accept a range of applications provided by competitors, which are not offered by default at present. The 17 companies in FairSearch were behind the investigation opened by the European Commission in November 2010 into an accusation of Google abusing its dominant position by taking advantage of the search results to advertise its own travel cost comparison websites and purchases over those of its competitors. It is possible that the investigation will end in an out-of-court settlement shortly, but Commissioner Almunia says that such an arrangement will not be possible for the complaint about Android (see EUROPE 10762). (FG/transl.fl)