UK to investigate Apple and Google's 'effective duopoly'

Westminster

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will examine if Apple and Google constitute a duopoly on mobile devices given their control over app stores.

Alongside its existing examination of Apple over the App Store, the CMA has begun investigating whether the dominant iOS and Android platforms represent unfair competition.

"Apple and Google control the major gateways through which people download apps or browse the web on their mobiles - whether they want to shop, play games, stream music or watch TV," said Andrea Coscelli, CMA Chief Executive, in a Government statement.

"We're looking into whether this could be creating problems for consumers and the businesses that want to reach people through their phones," he continued.

Referring to the existing App Store investigation, he added that the CMA had "already uncovered some worrying trends," and that, "consumers and businesses could be harmed if they go unchecked."

This new study would in theory have come under the aegis of the UK's newly formed Big Tech regulator. However, the Digital Markets Unit will have no authority until new legislation empowers it in 2022.

"[We're] pressing on with launching this study now, while we are setting up the new Digital Markets Unit," added Coscelli, "so we can hit the ground running by using the results of this work to shape future plans."

The CMA is calling for users or businesses to contribute to its study, and emphasizes that it is soliciting the views of developers in particular. The closing date for submissions is July 26, 2021.

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35 Comments

hydrogen

said about 2 years ago

OK. So Airbus and Boeing, clearly in a duopole situation on commercial airplanes, are to be fined , dismantled ? (to leave room for China, of course ...)

darkpaw

said about 2 years ago

I'll tell you what "could be creating problems for consumers and the businesses that want to reach people through their phones": This stupid government!

As a developer, I don't want to have 20 different mobile phone operating systems to code for. I want one or two, because every extra platform costs me time and money, but there aren't *more* consumers to sell my apps to.

When a coffee shop opens on a street, you get, say 40% of people trying it. Another one opens, but 40% of the remaining 60% don't suddenly want a coffee. There is a market of consumers, and they have decided that Apple and Google are just fine. They decided against the Facebook phone, and they decided against the Windows Phone. The market has already decided.

If the CMA decide that the two companies, Apple and Google, have "too much power", maybe they should go after, oh I don't know, the Conservatives and Labour? Those two political parties have "power" all sewn up between them!

harrykatsaros

said about 2 years ago

I don’t know why they can possibly expect? You’re not exactly preventing competition and holding back the little guy when Microsoft couldn’t compete for crying out loud. Market preferences are not going to shift and OEMs and developers are not going to want to support yet another platform that further complicates their businesses.

foregoneconclusion

said about 2 years ago

Middlemen and malware. That appears to be what both the EU and UK believe is of the most benefit to consumers.

hackintoisier

said about 2 years ago

darkpaw said:

There is a market of consumers, and they have decided that Apple and Google are just fine. They decided against the Facebook phone, and they decided against the Windows Phone. The market has already decided.

that’s not strictly true as while Android and Apple became the two major dominant platforms, some consumers still liked Microsoft and RIM. Those private companies chose to shut down their cellphone business though, if they were still in operation, they likely would have a user base, albeit much smaller than android and Apple.

But you have to remember that from a government point of view, they tend to prefer that consumers in any market place have choice. So no one or two suppliers grow so dominant as to stifle innovation and prevent competition. This is the government world view: to protect consumer choice.

Remember when at&t used to be the dominant phone company in the USA, the government broke it up and now we have Verizon and at&t (we used to have others like cellular one, but they somehow merged back into at&t again.)

So when there is a duopoly like you have rightfully pointed out, governments want to ensure that consumers aren’t being shafted that there is adequate choice, and also that innovation isn’t being stifled.

On the Apple App Store, Apple is the gatekeeper of what apps can and cannot be on the iPhone and iPad. This may be stifling innovation as Apple might deny apps that would otherwise be very popular with consumers. For example, what if we had apps that replaced the default homescreen on iPadOS with better multitasking and windowing support, users might pay for that, but Apple would never allow such a thing on the App Store, thus preventing competition, as well as preventing an ambitious developer from making any revenue on this idea.

This is why governments are looking into this issue. Should Apple have that much power? Who is Apple or even Google to say that certain ideas shouldn’t be able to come to market (like a better window manager than the iPadOS default) ?