Malcolm Owen
Apple is set to face more scrutiny of its business practices, with the Japanese government said to be preparing another antitrust probe into both Apple and Google.
Apple has been the subject of multiple antitrust probes alongside other tech giants, including Google. It seems that Japan will be adding its own investigation to the pile in the near future, one that will affect both the iPhone maker and the search giant.
A government panel will apparently launch this month to look into tightening antitrust regulations, according to sources of Nikkei in a report seen by the Mercury News. The panel will apparently discuss the dealings of Apple and Google with Japanese smartphone producers, including whether they handle domestic companies fairly compared to overseas vendors.
It is believed that iOS and Android make up more than 90% of the Japanese smartphone market, according to the report. Analysis by IDC in February pointed to Apple selling nearly half of all mobile phones in the country for the entirety of 2020.
The alleged Japanese probe will become the latest in a long line of similar activity by governments and regulators around the world, seeking to curtail the power of tech giants like Apple.
In Europe, antitrust commission chief Margrethe Vestager said on June 10 that Apple should allow alternate app stores on its platform, to enable proper competition, and wants legislation to be introduced forcing the issue.
The United States is also taking aim at tech companies, with U.S. House lawmakers revealing an array of bills on June 11, in response to a House Judiciary Committee report into big tech business practices. The five measures included bills to make it illegal for the companies to operate a line of business that creates a conflict of interest, preventing the acquisition of rising rivals, and a bill to make it easier for consumers to use competing platforms together and easily switch between them.
Away from governments, Apple has also recently been dealing with a lawsuit by Epic Games demanding changes to App Store policies, among other elements. Other attempts at class action antitrust lawsuits are also being made.
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11 Comments
Not a single original technological idea has come out of Japan that wasn’t created somewhere else first. Why should this be any different.
Why should companies be forced to “ make it easier for consumers to use competing platforms together and easily switch between them.”? This makes no sense. This is like forcing metric and SAE wrenches to be the same size so you can easily switch between them. They’re different, everything isn’t the same so quit trying to say it is. macOS is different from Windows. I don’t see anybody forcing Microsoft to produce software for Macs or Linux/Unix systems. It’s all customer and sales driven. Why isn’t Microsoft being included in any of these antitrust proceedings?
If the governments wants to control the App Store and make it unprofitable, they need to fund all of the investments and reimbursed Apple for everything they have invested thus far. Apple is a business not a public utility. They have to compete on many fronts and in most cases they are competing with whole industries. Like Every windows PC manufacturer and all Android phone Makers as if they are one company. This sucks because Apple doesn’t have close to a monopoly for any of their products. They design their products and services to best serve their customer who are the losers in this kind of foolishness.
This makes zero sense. Apple creates an encapsulated product, and others are demanding Apple opens up its proprietary product for others? This will be litigated for years/decades until irrelevant.