Google stopped Samsung from expanding search app offering
WASHINGTON: A former executive at Samsung Electronics' venture capital arm who proposed that mobile app developer Branch Metrics' software offering be expanded in Samsung smartphones faced pushback due to pressure from Google, he said on Thursday in a landmark antitrust trial against the Alphabet unit. Patrick Chang, who worked at Samsung Next to invest in innovative companies, had urged the parent company to expand the offering s of Branch, which can search within apps, to its Android smartphones. Branch Metrics founder and former CEO Alexander Austin testified in late September that his company eliminated some of its software's functions to fend off Google's complaints as it sought to make deals with wireless carriers and smartphone makers. Branch had to ensure that its search es remained within apps and never linked to the web, Austin noted. Chang testified that Samsung also faced pushback from wireless carries, like AT&T, which sell An...