Google has been paying rivals such as Apple and Samsung enormous sums to cooperate rather than compete, and using its scale and control over distribution channels (such as Chrome and Android) to preference its own products.Distribution channels matter in Google’s business, as does having enough data and an index of the web, and attracting advertisers. Any startup that wants to innovate in search needs access to these capabilities to get going. The last few months have been tough for Google. After a judge held the company illegally monopolized online search, the Justice Department just proposed remedies, including forcing Google to sell its Chrome web browser, prohibiting exclusive search engine licensing deals and self-preferencing, obliging the company to license its data and web index more broadly and limiting its control over the evolving artificial intelligence industry. Do you think that Google will let go of Chrome ?

