
Google fined £415,000 for making Google Maps free - SRSimko
http://www.cio.co.uk/news/3334962/google-fined-for-making-google-maps-free/?olo=rss
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SRSimko
Am I the only one scratching my head over this one? Fined for giving something
away, really?

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ColinWright
It's a standard business practice to create "loss leaders" specifically to
undermine a competitor's business, and then when they go under, go back to
charging full, or excessive, prices. That's why legislation exists to prevent
companies from abusing a dominant market position.

Perhaps the real difference here is that Google has been providing this free
service for a long time, and others do continue to start up and attempt to
compete by offering some sort of differentiator. Clearly this company decided
they'd just claim Google was being unfair.

And according to the law - which you may regard as stupid, but that's not the
point - Google is in the wrong. Consider what the marketplace could be like if
every startup got crushed by Google providing a free equivalent until the
startup founders and dies with no possibility or redress.

Or maybe we have that already, and the only hope of surviving is not to get
noticed.

