Google hands over concessions to EU following complaints

Google has been in a lot of deep trouble with the European Union over the past several years, almost to the point where we think that the search giant will never learn its lesson. However, it seems like the company is coming around, and they have officially handed in formal concessions to the EU in hopes to avoid a steep fine.

An EU antitrust investigation of Google has been ongoing for two years now, but it seems like it may finally come to an end soon, and Google is looking to come out of the mess without owing a fine. The search giant has submitted a set of formal concessions after discussions with the EU antitrust authority after the company originally first offered proposals back in January over complaints from Microsoft and other competitors.

The EU will now launch a "market test" to get feedback from competitors, as well as field further complaints — if any — about Google's concessions. Details are rather scarce at this point, but the market test will be crucial as far as determining whether or not competitors accept Google's concessions, since it's possible that they want to demand more.

This comes after another complaint was lodged against Google a few days ago. The complaint was made by Microsoft, Nokia, and other competitors over the fact that Google is using its Android mobile operating system to give its own apps and related services an advantage over others. The EU is still deciding what it will do with the complaint.

[via Reuters]