Eric Schmidt: Google Does Not Dominate Search, Mobile

After hearing testimony from Google Chairman Eric Schmidt in September, several senators had additional questions for the company. The Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee released Schmidt's responses to those queries. Here’s some highlights:

• Google Is Not Dominant in Search: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked Schmidt to explain why Google should not be characterized as a monopoly since it is "overwhelmingly dominant" and has only one rival. Schmidt said he disagrees that Google is dominant and said instead that the company has worked "very, very hard' and been blessed with some good luck. Stats released by the likes of comScore and Hitwise give Google about 65 percent of the search market, but that doesn't tell the whole story, he said. "I am confident that Google competes vigorously with a broad range of companies that go well beyond just Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo, and that Google has none of the characteristics that I associate with market power."
• Mobile? Also Not Dominant: "Google does not have a dominant position in the smartphone market. According to comScore, Android operates on only 34.1 percent while Apple's iOS runs on 43.1 percent. Moreover, competition in the market for mobile software platforms is fierce," Schmidt said.
• No Favoritism Here: Does Google give preference to its own services in search results? Schmidt argues that that's not really even possible. "The question of whether we 'favor' our 'products and services' is based on an inaccurate premise," Schmidt wrote. "These universal search results are our search service—they are not some separate 'Google content' that can be 'favored.'"