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So Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao's call for an antitrust probe against Google was not just wishful thinking - yesterday, the European Commission opened an investigation, initially targeted at how it ranks search results, but sure to have ramifications for its entire business.

European regulators have sent a letter to Google, asking how it ranks search results and adverts, sparked by complaints from two price comparison sites Foundem and the Microsoft owned Ciao!. Both allege their web sites are penalized in Google search results for competitive reasons.

Google confirmed that it had received the letter but denied any wrongdoing. "While we will be providing feedback and additional information on these complaints, we are confident that our business operates in the interests of users and partners, as well as in line with European competition law," it stated.

In a corporate blog post, it also pointed to Microsoft's hand behind the actions of the two sites. "Regarding Ciao!, they were a long time AdSense partner of Google's, with whom we always had a good relationship. However, after Microsoft acquired Ciao! in 2008 we started receiving complaints about our standard terms and conditions."

Google's share of the search and search-related ad markets is huge in Europe at around 90% - even higher than in the US. It is extending its search dominance rapidly into the mobile environment and increasingly looking to control the revenue generating services that ride on that position in search - it has announced its own social networking initiative, Buzz, its own browser, Chrome, and ties platforms like Google Maps tightly into its search engine too.

Many see the turning point for Google as the 2007 acquisition of online ad engine DoubleClick, which is being reworked this week to help boost the search giant's display ad business.

In the mobile world, Google is increasingly seen to be leveraging its search power to create a complete mobile software stack that will effectively exclude rivals from the platform, even though the components are open source. This stack already reaches from the Android OS and developer framework, through the Chrome browser, a widening range of Google web apps including Voice, and of course the search engine.

Third parties do not let Google have it all its own way. Handset makers are creating their own overlays for Android, for instance, with less prominence for the Google services; and as long as Nokia stays outside the Android camp, the US firm cannot be accused of having a monopoly on handset software. But even on Nokia phones, Google has a near-monopoly on local search.

There will be many parties eager to see the EU curb Google's power, though of course the investigation is only preliminary and any subsequent action could drag on for years. This is not just about firms seeking to compete directly in search, ads or location related services, but all those whose traditional models are disrupted by Google's open web/free content approach - carriers, content publishers, information services and so on. There will be many powerful players lining up behind Microsoft's front man, to try to prevent Google becoming the gatekeeper of the internet.

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