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Android Overload: The French Fine Google $660,000 For Free Google Maps, Facebook Says Android Is A Big Risk and More

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Hello again, everyone. You’ve managed to wander into what we like to call, the Android Overload. Being that it’s impossible for us to write up every article that passes by our desks, we’ve got the ‘ol AO to take car of that problem. It’s here we gather all these stories into a hodge podge of Android/mobile news for you to dig through and find something of interest. I personally found the Facebook article a particularly good read. How about you?

  • Facebook cites Android and iOS as “big risks.” Can’t make money off of mobile. [VentureBeat]
  • German court denies Apple’s request to ban Galaxy Tab 10.1n. [BriefMobile]
  • French court fines Google $660,000 for making Google Maps free. [SearchEngineLand]
  • Verizon Wireless/Comcast deal faces opposition as 3rd test market emerges. [WSJ]
  • Budget tablet maker Yarvik to introduce Ice Cream Sandwich device in late February/early March. [EuroDroid]
  • The WiFi-only Motorola Xyboard 8.2 has passed through the FCC. [Engadget]
  • T-Mobile is now selling the Square mobile payments system in their stores. [BGR]
  • FCC to modernize and reform Lifeline program for low-income families. [BGR]
  • NTT Docomo launching 2 new Disney phones from Panasonic and Fujitsu. [TheVerge]
Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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13 Comments

  1. Ah France… you never dissapoint when it comes to making an ass of yourself.

    1. I know right? Giving free maps and navi. What a terrible thing to do.

      1. Maybe it’s because there wasn’t an option for “get away as fast as possible”, or “most effective retreat route” in Google Maps.

  2. “Nothing in life is free.” I guess they figured something was fundamentally wrong.

  3. why bother checking links, in an article with mainly links.

    WSJ article doesn’t even work. Get a grip

  4. The article is good I like this post!

  5. France: Ahhh…. you silly little Socialists…

  6. Hallo! The country need money to survive financial crisis. 

    1. Tell them to spend less. Stupid Socialist policies are not excuse for this kind of action. 

  7. If Facebook says Android is a risk. Then why make a shitty Facebook phone

    1. They may do so. Facebook can’t get their 30% tax on in-app purchases made on Android or iOS, they make nothing. In the WSJ article, Facebook listed what they felt were risks, Android and iOS are among them, because there is very little money to be made from smartphone platforms, which more and more people are using these days. Facebook does have their own app on the major smartphone OSs, however, it isn’t very profitable. actually, Android and iOS were just two things among a laundry list of risks and concerns to potential investors, not least of which was Mark Zuckerberg himself; he owns approximately 57-58% of the stock, so it’s still his company to ultimately do whatever he wants with regardless of what the other investors think. Google+, upstart companies taking subscribers away (like every other social networking website in the history of the internet that went from top of the mountain to “do you remember so-and-so?”).
      Personally, I’m not going anywhere near Facebook stock, I’ve watched computers go from things with vacuum tubes to the present day, and since the internet really started becoming commercialized in the early 1980s, when we had lightning-fast 300 baud modems (which were upgrades) and 16K of memory was like “whoaaaa dude, 16K! holy crap!”. I’ve also watched a LOT of social networking sites rise, dominate for awhile, and fall. Remember MySpace? Facebook was a joke when MySpace was #1, then Tom Anderson sold it to NewsCorp (don’t blame him), who then started making all kinds of the most stupid changes imaginable to MySpace until people were leaving for Facebook out of disgust. Regardless of how much people think that Facebook is great, or horrible, it isn’t going to be on top forever, I GUARANTEE that.
      Facebook thought about making a Facebook phone, but the current thinking is that there is no way they’ll catch up to Android and iOS (smart move – they won’t, ever), and designing and manufacturing smartphones is a very expensive endeavor. I just don’t see a Facebook phone ever happening, although Zuckerberg may decide that spending nine-figures on a smartphone is a good idea. I’ll pass on a Facebook phone as well as their stocks.

  8. God DAMN IT, France! When will you stop being a prick?!

  9. France courts are morons Google fosters competition by giving maps for free. When other companies make a mapping system that is significantly better than Google maps, people will pay for it. That’s how the free market works. Hello Socialist France. Until either mapping software is only marginal better the competition is forced to do some R&D. I hope Google isn’t charging for maps now. If they do, please only in Socialist France, we’ll see how long it takes that French citizens get pissed bombing the Government with emails about retarded rulings by their courts.
    What’s next paying money for every Google search? Google makes it’s dough with ads, not by charging consumers that’s the whole Google culture and only France has an issue with it, because its an American and not French company.

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