Google unveils first Chrome powered laptops

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has hailed Google's new laptops as a "new model of computing".

His comments came on the second day of the company's developer conference, where Google announced that so-called Chromebooks will go on sale in June.
Samsung and Acer will be the first manufacturers to offer the devices, for between $349 and $499, in the US and six European countries initially.
Google's aim is to encourage people to use web-based applications, claiming that that is where most people spend their time and that most tasks can be accomplished online.
The internet giant said because Chromebooks are not weighed down by software and applications common to most laptops, they boot up in eight seconds instead of minutes.
The company said battery life on the device will last a day, security updates will be done automatically and they will be faster than traditional laptops.
"It's a much easier way to compute... and Chromebook is venturing into a new model of computing that I don't think was possible even a few years ago," said Mr Brin.
"Ultimately the most precious resource is the user's time. I think the complexity of managing your computer is really torturing users out there. It is a flawed model and I think Chromebooks are a new model and this is the way things are going to be," added Mr Brin.
'Nothing but the web'
Six months ago a prototype of the Chromebook was introduced.
The CR-48 was given to developers, businesses, schools, journalists and reviewers to play around with and test.
During the Google IO conference, Sundar Pichai, senior vice president for Chrome, said that the pilot had over one million participants.
He told BBC News that the feedback from that programme helped underscore his belief that users are more than ready for this new shift in computing.
"Most people spend all their time on the web, and for the first time we have distilled the entire computing experience to be about nothing but the web," he told BBC News.

Google said its new web-based Chromebooks can save businesses money

"End-to-end, I think your computing experience will be far simpler, safer and faster," added Mr Pichai.
"Today, most computers work where you have to interact with them and manage them. We have switched that around and I am genuinely convinced almost everyone is ready for it today."
There is some scepticism among those who follow the industry that ordinary consumers will embrace the move away from the norm.
"I think it is the future of computing, but I am not quite convinced it is the present of computing," said Steven Levy, senior writer at Wired Magazine and the author of a newly-released book on Google called In The Plex.
"Having used one of these CR-48's, I found some problems like in a number of cases not being able to get connectivity or get on fast enough. It wasn't as good an experience as my regular environment.
"That said I do think it is a great nudge to push us into what is the logical future of computing, but Google has to go out and sell this to convince everybody of that view," added Mr Levy.
The first Chromebooks will be available for order in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands from June 15.
The price for the Samsung version will start at $430 for a Wi-Fi powered device and $499 for a 3G model. An Acer machine will start at $350.
Price, said Michael Gartenberg, a senior analyst with research firm Gartner, could be a stumbling block.
"The hardware looks interesting, but the problem Google and its partners are going to have is convincing someone to spend $499 on a device that looks like a laptop but does so many fewer things.
"A $499 laptop can also run Chrome and get most of the Chrome apps. I think people were looking for Google to not only come up with some sort of computing innovation, but to come up with some pricing innovation as well. And at $349-$499, it is going to be a hard sell for consumers," Mr Gartenberg told the BBC.
Microsoft challenge
One area commentators think Google and its manufacturing partners might have some success is with the business world and also in education.

Google said 160m users now use its chrome browser

In a challenge to Microsoft, which rules the enterprise world with its Windows and Office software, Google is offering its cloud-ready Chromebook to businesses for $28 a person.
That will cover things like the cost of the device, necessary support, as well as machine upgrades and replacements.
Mr Pichai told a roomful of around 5,000 developers that the Google initiative would be one-third of what he estimated was the average $1,000 IT cost per employee.
Google is also offering a similar package to schools for $20 per user.
"If they can make Chromebooks work for business and schools, it has the potential to be a lot cheaper for them, because they don't have to manage them and buy software, and they get replaced when they break," said Ina Fried, senior editor with technology sites AllThingsDigital.
"It is a really appealing vision for these sectors, but I also think that businesses and even students will find it hard to break away from the PC entirely, a way of working that many people have gotten used to over the years."

Google said that later in the year it expects a number of other manufacturers to offer Chromebooks at a number of different price points.

Google online search adverts 'dominant', says France



Google says search advertisements are just "one of many options for advertisers"



 

 Internet giant Google holds a dominant position in the online advertising market linked to search engines, a French competition watchdog has said.

But the Autorite de la Concurrence regulator said Google would only face sanctions if it abused this power.
"Only the abusive exercise of such market power could be sanctioned," the anti-trust regulator said.
Google said search advertisements were just "one of many options for advertisers".
'Dynamic industry' "If the price of search ads rises, advertisers can and do switch to other formats, both online and offline," Google added.
"That is the sign of a competitive and dynamic industry."
But the regulator also said there were "possible operational abuses, whereby the search engine apparently imposes exorbitant conditions on its partners or customers, treats them in a discriminatory manner or refuses to guarantee a minimum degree of transparency in the contractual relations that it establishes with them".
However, the Autorite said it made no ruling as to the legality of such practices "that would merit, in order to be pursued, often long and complex investigations".
'Significant investment' The Autorite de la Concurrence's comments follows a French economy ministry request that competition in the online advertising sector be examined.
The regulator said: "This dominant position is not reprehensible: it results from a great deal of innovation, supported by significant and continuous investments," adding that competition law limited Google's actions.
According to research from Strategy Analytics, Google's share of the $16.4bn global online advertising market rose to 43% in the third quarter from 42% in the previous period.
Yahoo is in second place, with 8.7% of the market, and Microsoft third with 3.2%.
Competition inquiry Last month, the European Commission launched an investigation into Google after other search engines complained that the firm had abused its dominant position.
The Commission will examine whether the world's largest search engine penalised competing services in its results.
The probe follows complaints by firms including price comparison site Foundem and legal search engine ejustice.fr.
Google denies the allegations but said it would work with the Commission to "address any concerns".

Google faces new complaint in anti-trust probe



Google faces more questions over how it dealt with other search engines



 

A new complaint about Google's alleged anti-competitive behaviour has been filed by specialist French search engine 1plusV.

It follows similar complaints from price comparison site Foundem and legal search engine ejustice.fr last year.
Those triggered a European Commission probe into Google's business practices, which is ongoing.
Google said it was working with the EC, adding that there "was always room for improvement".
"We have been working closely with the European Commission to explain many different parts of our business. While we have always tried to do the right thing for our users and advertisers, we recognise that there's always room for improvement," the firm said in a statement.
Delisted sites 1plusV is the parent company of of eJustice.fr and runs so-called vertical search engines that specialise in law, music and culture.
It said that between 2006 and 2010 Google prevented vertical search firms from using its online advertising service AdSense.
"This is the only truly effective way of obtaining targeted advertising on a search engine," 1plusV said in a statement.
It also alleges that, in the weeks following the original complaint, Google delisted sites published by it.
"For eJustice.fr, Google's decision to remove it from its search results was catastrophic in terms of its traffic," it said.
Google has said that ranking on its search results depends on how valuable a given site is for its users.
It has told companies to improve their websites to help move them up the rankings.
But 1plusV said that eJustice.fr was relisted in December, without modification.
"The relisting is in complete contradiction with the Google argument that eJustice.fr was delisted because it provided no value to the internet user," 1plusV said.
The European Commission said it would give Google the opportunity to comment on the allegations before deciding what action to take.
If Google is found guilty of abusing its dominant position in the search or advertising markets it could face a hefty fine.

Microsoft takes Google complaint to EU



Microsoft claims that Google has tried to restrict its growth in the search market



 

Microsoft is to take an anti-competition complaint against Google to the European Commission.

The software maker claims that Google used its dominant position in the search market to restrict the growth of Microsoft services.
It cites a number of practices, including Google limiting the ability of Microsoft Bing to index web content.
Google said it was not surprised by the move and would happily explain itself.
In a detailed blog, Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, outlined the company's grievances.
He wrote: "Our filing today focuses on a pattern of actions that Google has taken to entrench its dominance in the markets for online search and search advertising to the detriment of European consumers."
The post goes on to list five different ways in which Google, according to Microsoft, has sought to control the search market.
Those are:

• Using technical measures to stop Microsoft's search engine Bing from indexing content on Google-owned YouTube.
• Blocking Microsoft Smartphones from operating properly with YouTube.
• Controlling access to online copies of out-of-copyright books.
• Limiting the ability of businesses to reclaim "their own information" generated through Google advertising campaigns for use elsewhere.
• Compelling leading websites to only use Google search boxes on their pages.

Heavy fines The European Commission launched an investigation into allegations of anti-competitive practices by Google last November, at the behest of several internet companies, including Ciao, a shopping site owned by Microsoft.


Microsoft's Bing search engine suffered because of Google's actions, it alleges



 

It is likely, if the Commission accepts the latest round of complaints from Microsoft, that they would be rolled into the same investigation.
For the Microsoft case to be accepted, the company would have to prove two things - firstly that Google was dominant in a particular market, namely search, and secondly that it had abused that position.
In a statement, Google said it would cooperate with any investigation.
"We're not surprised that Microsoft has done this, since one of their subsidiaries was one of the original complainants. For our part, we continue to discuss the case with the European Commission and we're happy to explain to anyone how our business works," is stated.
Penalties for companies found to have engaged in anti-competitive practices in Europe can be severe. The EC has the power to impose fines up to 10% of global earnings.
That will likely have a bearing on how the case proceeds, according to Mark Tricker, an antitrust lawyer with the law firm Norton Rose.
He told BBC News: "Once the Commission has formulated its claims then I suspect that Google will enter into a dialogue with them to address those concerns so it does not have to reach a judgement."
Role reversal Microsoft's position as accuser in an anti-competition case is something of a role reversal.
In the past, the world's leading software company has been the target of similar actions.
A 2003 EC ruling determined that Microsoft had unfairly advantaged its Windows Media Player software over other streaming technologies by embedding it into the Windows operating system.
It was fined £381m, followed by a further £194m in 2006 for failing to comply with elements of the original ruling.
To date, the largest fine levied by the EC was £948m against Intel in 2009.
The microchip maker was found to have offered financial incentives to manufacturers to favour its products over those of its rivals.

Google's advertising system under US investigation

Google makes most of it's money from advertising(adsense)

Continue reading the main story Google's advertising system is being investigated by the US Justice Department, the company has revealed.

The internet search giant added that it had put aside $500m (£306m) to settle any potential charges.
The investigation is looking at how Google's automated advertising system treats some unnamed advertisers.
A separate study is continuing to be carried out by the European Commission. Google's advertising revenues hit $8.3bn in the first quarter of 2011.
Accusations Google revealed the Justice Department investigation in a regulatory filing to the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It said that as a result of putting aside the $500m, its net profit for the first three months of this year would be less than first reported in April, falling to $1.8bn from $2.3bn.
Google said in a statement: "Although we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this matter, we believe it will not have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows."
The Justice Department has yet to comment.
The European Commission's continuing anti-competition investigation into Google was launched in November of last year.
It was started after Google's search engine rivals complained that the firm had abused its dominant position.
Among a number of accusations, rivals including Microsoft's Bing have accused Google of manipulating its search results to promote its own services, and discourage firms from advertising with other search engines.
It is not yet known whether the US Justice Department's investigations concern accusations of anti-competition practices, or if they follow a complaint from a rival of Google.