DHAKA: Google chairman Eric Schmidt has said the firm’s biggest rival in online search is e-commerce giant Amazon.

Schmidt fought back at claims that Google enjoyed unrivalled dominance of the online search market.

‘Many people think our main competition is Bing or Yahoo. But, really, our biggest search competitor is Amazon,’ he said in a speech in Berlin, reports the BBC.

Google is in the middle of a European Union probe into its search engine after anti-trust complaints.

In February, it avoided paying what could have resulted in billions in fines when it agreed to give equal standing to rival services such as Microsoft in its search results.

But Schmidt pointed out that competition in the online world ‘isn’t always like-for-like’.

‘People don't think of Amazon as search, but if you are looking for something to buy, you are more often than not looking for it on Amazon,’ he said.

‘They are obviously more focused on the commerce side of the equation, but, at their roots, they are answering users’ questions and searches, just as we are.’

BDST: 1940 HRS, OCT 14, 2014