Here are my thoughts on John Gruber’s recent article and notes on the Google Monopoly.

I mean, let’s say Google was forced to spin Chrome off. How would Chrome Inc. make money? Clearly, they’d make money through TAC fee payments from Google search. >Also, if they split off Chrome they’d almost have to split off Android.

Chrome Inc will be quite profitable, making $20 billion a year from Alphabet to set Google Search as the default search engine on Chrome. The same model works for Android Inc, too.

The Justice Department doesn’t exist to figure out Alphabet’s business model nor does it care to. The fact that everything is so tied together that it’s hard to split up doesn’t is only further proof that Google is a monopoly.

If Google is disallowed from making its own web browser how in the world can they make an OS? I mean in theory they could make an OS that only offered third-party browsers but that would mean no system-level webview for apps to embed. Some people laughed at Microsoft’s late-1990s argument that Windows needed a built-in browser but that’s obviously true today. It’s no different than including a TCP/IP networking stack or printer drivers.

The OS which is Linux based can go with Chrome. Google doesn’t need their own OS to work on Mac, iOS, Windows, and other operating system they run their products on.

I don’t know what the remedy ought to be for this case, but I don’t think a breakup is it.

A breakup is better for consumers. Google’s stranglehold on the online ad industry will feel painful after it’s broken up. The only reason it feels hard to break Google into so many new companies is because it’s such a one-sided monopoly. However, that doesn’t justify not breaking them up.

Google has a long history of pushing technology that is only good for Google. Does anyone remember AMP and how Google forced the publishing industry to jump to a platform that only benefited them?

It makes sense to chop Alphabet + Google into dozens of smaller companies. Chrome, Android, Gmail, Docs (maybe Maps), and hardware should stand independently. Search and Ads should each be divided into multiple companies. The goal isn’t to make business sense; it is to divide the company into parts that compete against themselves.