BRUSSELS—The European Union's competition chief on Monday said she was closely investigating whether Alphabet Inc.'s Google was shutting out rivals in its Android operating-system contracts with phone makers and telecom operators, suggesting that likely impending formal antitrust charges would center around the U.S. tech giant's demand that phone makers preload a folder of its own apps.

European Antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager opened a formal probe into Google's conduct with its Android operating system last April, when she also filed separate formal charges against the company for allegedly skewing its search results to favor its own shopping service.

At the time, she said the commission would look into allegations that Google requires smartphone and tablet-computer makers to pre-install a suite of its own apps for messages, search, email and other functions if a manufacturer wants to include any of them.

She also said she would look into accusations that Google prevents phone makers from developing modified versions of the Android operating system despite the tech company's claim that Android is an open mobile platform.

But on Monday, Ms. Vestager only made mention of the first area of concern.

"Our concern is that, by requiring phone makers and operators to preload a set of Google apps, rather than letting them decide for themselves which apps to load, Google might have cut off one of the main ways that new apps can reach customers," she said.

"Anyone can use Android with or without Google applications," a Google spokesman said. "Hardware manufacturers and carriers can decide how to use Android and consumers have the last word about which apps they want to use on their devices."

If phone makers want to install any Google applications, Google requires them to pre-install a folder of 11 apps within one flick of the home screen.

Ms. Vestager drew comparisons between Google and Microsoft Corp., which the commission a decade ago decided was abusing its dominance for shutting out rivals in the media player market by including Microsoft's own player with the Windows operating system. The EU hit Microsoft with a €497 million ($560.89 million) fine for that decision.

As in the Microsoft case, the commission is concerned that consumers wouldn't try alternatives if the Google version is already loaded on the device, putting small innovators at a disadvantage.

Ms. Vestager said the investigation was still ongoing and couldn't yet say whether the company has broken the rules. People familiar with the matter say the commission is finalizing its formal charges against Google over its conduct with Android.

The antitrust chief also stressed that web search results, when shopping online for example, should pull up the most relevant results with the best price.

"That's one reason to be so concerned that Google seems to favor its own comparison shopping service in search results," she said.

The commission is expected to issue its decision in the Google shopping case by the summer, according to a person familiar with the matter.

News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, on Monday filed its second formal complaint with the commission over Google, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In Monday's complaint, News Corp is concerned Google reinforces its dominance in general search by "scraping" or copying content from publishers to display the results of news articles, according to the person. News Corp alleges that if the publisher doesn't want the content to be copied, Google doesn't show the articles in the results at all, the person said.

The European Commission is already investigating allegations that Google copies or "scrapes" rival Web content, but so far hasn't issued any formal charges in the area.

News Corp filed a separate complaint regarding Google's competition practices last April, but has declined to disclose further details about that complaint.

Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 18, 2016 06:45 ET (10:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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