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UK’s antitrust watchdog finally eyes action on Apple, Google mobile duopoly
The U.K.’s competition watchdog has published its final report on a comprehensive, year-long mobile ecosystem market study — cementing its view that there are substantial concerns about the market power of Apple and Google which require regulatory intervention. Back in December, its preliminary report on the market study also identified concerns and discussed potential remedies for tackling lock-in and opening up the pair’s “largely self-contained ecosystems”, such as by making it easier for consumers to switch and reducing barriers for app developers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s 356-page final report goes into greater depth and detail on all fronts, analyzing a smorgasbord of competition concerns attached to how Apple and Google operate their respective, dominant mobile ecosystems, iOS and Android — and digging into topics as varied as Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature; a Google developer revenue-sharing agreement codenamed ‘Project Hug’; and the merits of developing web apps that features a chat with the maker of popular puzzle game, Wordle, to pull out a few highlights — but with the regulator pointing to the pair’s sustained profitability, and profits it assess as “high in absolute terms”, as an indelible, top-line signal that market distortion is afoot.
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