Skyhook, the tiny Massachusetts company that created the location software in your iPhone, sued Google this week (pdf). David is charging Goliath with trying to keep its software out of Google's Android mobile software platform in favor of Google's own location service, and with encouraging Skyhook's partners to break contracts.
In other words, Google is leveraging its OS market share to push its own affiliated products and snuff out competitors — kind of like Microsoft did with Internet Explorer on Windows 15 years ago. Yikes. [Wired.com]
Google says it hasn't had the opportunity to review the legal action, so it has yet to comment. Skyhook's particular gripe is that Google is going back on its promise that Android, by being open-source, would be a free marketplace. From the company's court filing:
When Google launched Android, its stated goal was to create an open platform that carriers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), ...
