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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating whether Google averts handset creators from deploying competitive services, according to the Journal reports.

The FTC of the United States that began an antitrust investigation into Google approximately month and a half ago, is staring specifically at relationship Google and Android handset creators and at whether Google encourages its own services in search results as reported the Wall Street Journal.

In late June Google said that the FTC had begun a review of its business, but it stated that it didn’t know precisely what concerns the FTC had.

Quoting people who are familiar with the investigation, the Wall Street Journal stated that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating the deals Google makes with smartphone creators which utilize its Android software. Today Android application development is getting very popular as Android Market is getting very popular and filling up with apps every day.

That sounds dependant to allegations made by Skyhook Wireless that has sued Google, asserting that makers of handset must utilize location services of Google if they wish to involve the Android Market on their phones.

Also the FTC is looking into whether Google is taking info such as local business reviews which is collected by competitive sites for deployments on its own sites as the Journal informed. Furthermore the agency wants to know whether Google is providing its own sites, as for example Google Finance and Places pages, supreme placing in search results than competitive sites.

A request for comment concerning the report was not replied instantly by Google. Moreover Google is facing a separate antitrust exploration that was launched last year by the European Commission. This investigation is concentrated on a similar issue – if Google abused its dominant position in search to push ahead its own services.

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