14 DAY TRIAL // Google's offices in Seoul, South Korea have been raided by local officials search for proof of anti-trust behavior at the company. This time around, it was the inclusion of Google Search in Android phones by default, that got the authorities' attention.
Officials visited the Google headquarters in the country on Tuesday and may have done so on Wednesday as well. The raid is in relation to a complaint filed by several online portals and search engines in the country against Google.
The Korean Fair Trade Commission never misses an opportunity for a good old-fashioned raid.
The latest unwanted visit comes after NHN Corp and Dacum Communications complained to authorities that Google was being unfair with Android and was making it impossible to switch to another search option.
This, of course, is not true, users can choose between Google, Bing and Yahoo in the Android web browser by default. There are also search apps from all other search engines in the Android Market.
What the two Korean corporations may have referred to was the fact that Google forces manufacturers to bundle Google apps with Android phones.
This is not technically true, though Google does grant special licenses for those wanting an 'officially sanctioned' Android which includes the Google apps, not part of the open source Android.
It's important to note that NHN Corp operates Naver, the country's largest search engine, with over 70 percent market share and Dacum is the country's second largest search engine with over 10 percent search share.
Google on the other hand is fourth, after Yahoo, with a very small slice of the market. That said, Android smartphone sales have been very big in South Korea as some of the biggest phone makers are from the country, Samsung and LG.
This is the third time authorities in South Korea have raided Google offices in the country.
"We will work with the KFTC to address any questions they may have about our business," Google said in a statement.
"Android is an open platform, and carrier and OEM partners are free to decide which applications and services to include on their Android phones. We do not require carriers or manufacturers to include Google Search or Google applications on Android-powered devices," it said.