Report from The Guardian
In Brief – Apple and Google have made commitments to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to implement practices to prevent discrimination against third-party apps that compete with their own services. Last year, the CMA found that both firms hold “substantial, entrenched” market power in mobile platforms under the UK’s Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC) regime and the voluntary agreements allow the companies to avoid legally binding regulatory remedies for now. Both agreed to provide greater transparency into how they review and approve apps, to not favor their own apps in app store search rankings, and to not use data from third-party developers to enhance their own competing products. Apple also agreed to ease the process for developers to request access to certain device features, such as its digital wallet and live translation tools for AirPods. Neither company agreed to change app store fees that reach 30%, a longstanding concern with many app developers. Sarah Cardell, the chief executive of the CMA, said securing immediate commitments from Apple and Google “offers a practical route to swiftly address the concerns we’ve identified.”
Context – Epic Games’ 2020 antitrust lawsuits against Apple and Google in US federal court opened a global lobbying and litigation campaign to force the two giants to change their business models and cut their fees. Although the results of those initial cases appeared quite different, Apple and Google were both ordered to revamp their US app stores. Apple is still appealing while Google is trying to implement a settlement. They both face similar demands in a growing number of markets, with the UK joining the EU, Japan, South Korea, India and others. Each new result appears to feed more. For example, when the Director of Japan’s Fair Trade Commission was asked about the prospect that Japan regulating the Apple and Google’s app stores would lead to trade retaliation from the Unites States, he said, “We don’t think this will be a big problem. It’s not like Japan is the only country that’s targeted certain US companies.”