<p>Alphabet unit Google on Tuesday said deals with Android phone makers that landed it a record 4.3-billion-euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine boosted competition and rejected EU charges they were a carrot-and-stick tactic that stifled rivals.</p>.<p>Google was addressing the second day of a week-long hearing as it tries to get Europe's second-highest court to annul the fine and a European Commission order to make it loosen its search engine grip on Android devices.</p>.<p>Lawyers for Google and the EU competition executive clashed over the company's Mobile Application Distribution Agreements (MADAs) that require phone makers (OEMs) to pre-install the Google Search app and Chrome browser app in return for licensing Google Play for free.</p>.<p>"This licensing model is what attracted OEMs to the Android platform, and what enabled those OEMs to offer a consistent and high-quality user experience at the lowest possible price," Google's lawyer Alfonso Lamadrid told the General Court.</p>.<p>"People use Google because they choose to, not because they're forced to," he said.</p>.<p>Commission lawyer Carlos Urraca Caviedes rejected the argument, calling the deals and other restrictions Google's carrot-and-stick policy towards phone makers.</p>.<p>"These helped Google ensured its competitors would not achieve critical mass to challenge its dominance," he told the court.</p>.<p>He also said such deals were unnecessary in view of the market power of Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, and its significant number of users.</p>.<p>Urraca Caviedes said what Google did "goes beyond what is necessary to develop and maintain the Android platform".</p>.<p>A verdict may come next year. The case is T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.</p>.<p><strong>Check out the latest videos from <i data-stringify-type="italic">DH</i>:</strong></p>
<p>Alphabet unit Google on Tuesday said deals with Android phone makers that landed it a record 4.3-billion-euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine boosted competition and rejected EU charges they were a carrot-and-stick tactic that stifled rivals.</p>.<p>Google was addressing the second day of a week-long hearing as it tries to get Europe's second-highest court to annul the fine and a European Commission order to make it loosen its search engine grip on Android devices.</p>.<p>Lawyers for Google and the EU competition executive clashed over the company's Mobile Application Distribution Agreements (MADAs) that require phone makers (OEMs) to pre-install the Google Search app and Chrome browser app in return for licensing Google Play for free.</p>.<p>"This licensing model is what attracted OEMs to the Android platform, and what enabled those OEMs to offer a consistent and high-quality user experience at the lowest possible price," Google's lawyer Alfonso Lamadrid told the General Court.</p>.<p>"People use Google because they choose to, not because they're forced to," he said.</p>.<p>Commission lawyer Carlos Urraca Caviedes rejected the argument, calling the deals and other restrictions Google's carrot-and-stick policy towards phone makers.</p>.<p>"These helped Google ensured its competitors would not achieve critical mass to challenge its dominance," he told the court.</p>.<p>He also said such deals were unnecessary in view of the market power of Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, and its significant number of users.</p>.<p>Urraca Caviedes said what Google did "goes beyond what is necessary to develop and maintain the Android platform".</p>.<p>A verdict may come next year. The case is T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.</p>.<p><strong>Check out the latest videos from <i data-stringify-type="italic">DH</i>:</strong></p>