Google wins dismissal of U.S. lawsuit over Android app limits

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit accusing Google Inc of harming smartphone buyers by forcing handset makers that use its Android operating system to make the search engine company's own applications the default option. Consumers claimed that Google required companies such as Samsung Electronics Co to favor Google apps such as YouTube on Android-powered phones, and restrict rival apps such as Microsoft Corp's Bing. They said this illegally drove smartphone prices higher because rivals could not compete for the “prime screen real estate” that Google's apps enjoyed

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Google’s YouTube to launch subscription music service in ‘few months’

(Reuters) – (This story corrects headline and first sentence to show that paid subscription service is for music, not broader service; changes source to Google, not CNBC; removes reference to YouTube exploring a paid, ad-free version of its service in Feb.18 story) Google Inc is set to launch its paid monthly subscription service called YouTube Music Key in a few months, Robert Kyncl, the online video service's head of content and business operations, said at the Code/Media conference. …

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