Google stopped Samsung from expanding search app offering - ex-executive

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google is seen at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 14, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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 offerings of Branch, which can search within apps, to its Android smartphones.