According to a report from Bloomberg today, US trade watchdog the FTC is gathering its forces and doing the paperwork necessary to launch an antitrust investigation into Google's Android mobile OS, with sources suggesting the tech giant's pimping of its own apps inside the software and the possible freezing out of its competitors' (invariably rubbish) alternatives is the key cause for complaint.
Bloomberg says that the FTC has come to an agreement with the Justice Department to push forward the case against Android, with FTC employees apparently already in possession of a file of complaints from rival software providers who say that Google prioritises its own apps at the expense of their own. So please, Mr FTC, can you stop it pre-loading Gmail onto everything, would seem to be the question being asked.
It may not happen, though. Bloomberg's sources say the investigation is still in its early stages and may not go ahead at all. It depends on the veracity of the evidence gathered and if there's enough there for the FTC to think it could win an antitrust battle on this scale. [Bloomberg]