Happy New Year for Google

Today's Financial Times reports (on its first page) that Google's core search engine is cleared by US regulators from antitrust charges. This is good news for the search engine, which is still not entirely out of trouble on antitrust issues as it faces similar probes this month in the European court. Nevertheless, this is an important step forward and even more so in light of the reason provided for the decision: "Google's search practices don't harm consumers". Google does have a formidable technology that represents strong barriers to entry for competitors. However, as long as this technological advantage is exploited to improve the customer experience there is no reason to stop the industry leader. Let's hope Europe will also lean on the argument of meritocracy...