The search engine business of Google is one of the most biggest and popular one. It is so large that people believe that it has a monopoly on the market. If we consider the size of the market, Google Docs is one of its most popular service. It is available for free once a user gives a Google account. Google Docs is a cloud service that provides users with storage space. Recent reports say that Google Docs has hit 1 billion downloads on Google Play Store.
Google Docs took around six years to reach the mark of 1 billion downloads. Its because Google did not make the app compulsory in the GMS package. Google Docs hit 500 million downloads on Google Play Store two years ago and after that, it became increasingly popular. Android Police says that the downloads might have increased because of the increase in “work from home” as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One more reason for the increase in popularity has been the increase in use of Google Workspace that comes with Google Docs. The feature is a free-to-use service with cloud services. It has reasons for getting popular with technological advancement.
The Antitrust Subcommittee of US Government says that Google made a huge monopoly empire that includes favoring their own products and services and suppressing services from its competitors. They also claimed that Google uses its own services to suppress third-party competitors and dominate the market from advertising to maps. It also warned that the increasing cloud business of Google and acquisition plan for Fitbit might strengthen the monopoly.
The report was concluded by saying that monopoly power is enjoyed by Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook. The committee also suggests that Congress amend the law of anti-monopoly to force them to spin their businesses and make the acquisition more difficult.
The reports say that the Digital Services Act drafted by EU says that big companies need to share data with their competitors. If this does not happen, they cannot themselves use the data of offering special services.
There are a large number of pending lawsuits particularly about monopoly. We might see a few changes in the upcoming few months.