What happens when consumer’s choices are limited? Unfortunately for all of us, we don’t have a lot of options when it comes to a mobile operating system(OS). In fact you’re most likely to have an Android phone than any other type. Google’s Android OS commands a staggering 86% market share of all mobile devices on the entire planet. Let that sink in.

Worldwide Mobile OS Market Share

And when companies have that much control over an industry, it becomes a problem, a big one. Monopolies have been a persistent side effect of a free market economy and Americans have been battling them for over a hundred years.

During the turn of the 20th century, railroads were a game changer. Shipping goods, agriculture, and oil across the vast American continent at, at the time, staggering speeds and became a critical component of American infrastructure.

Recognizing opportunity, big business got their hands on it and began consolidating all the smaller railroads and levied the backbone of American infrastructure to wield considerable power over governments and swathes of industries. It became such a problem that it grew into a campaign issue. People for strong antitrust laws argued the American economy to be successful requires free competition and the opportunity for individual Americans to build their own businesses. And in 1890, congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act almost unanimously.

Today, we have a similar problem with mobile platforms. Google and Apple control 90% the mobile OS market in the United States. Effectively becoming the ultimate gatekeepers on software consumption. As of this writing, there would be nothing to stop Google from banning competitors or industry players from their platform. Example: Google banned fastest growing social media site Gab.ai from their Android-Google Play Store.

Gab.ai, an ad-free free-speech social media platform, began as an alternative to Twitter when they began to ban the accounts of socially and politically diverse groups.

“At Gab we believe in the power of people and in the strength of community. It is our goal to keep the social web grounded in the freedom of expression, information, and speech.” -Andrew Torba CEO Gab Ai

Banning competitors opens Google to possible anti-trust lawsuits and FTC investigation. In a 2011 CBS News article, cited scenarios to which a FTC probe would most likely land Google in a full blown anti-trust suit. “Discriminating against businesses”, one of the scenarios, cites a 1985 Supreme Court case Aspen Skiing Co. vs Aspen Highlands, where four ski resorts adopted a ticketing system where the ticket would be valid at any of these resorts. Three of the resorts were owned by one owner and thought it was a good idea to shove the 4th resort out of the ticketing system.

The court ruled that because the larger company had hurt consumers through a deliberate act that discriminated against the fourth resort a restraint of trade had occurred.

Meanwhile, Google is already battling anti-trust suits in the EU and settled an anti-trust suit in Russia which lead some to believe that the FTC will soon appear on Google’s physical domain. Either way, software developers must still obey their platform overlords