Annie came up with the song's title and first verse, but she did not think that the idea had potential until presenting it to Sam. “It may be possible to introduce a rule that prohibits an OS provider from obliging third-party browser providers to use a particular browser engine,” the report says.Songwriters Annie and Sam Tate, who are husband and wife, co-wrote the song with Rivers Rutherford. Japanese authorities, in the recent Competition Assessment of the Mobile Ecosystem Interim Report Summary, are also considering abolishing Apple’s iOS browser restrictions. “They are areas where the CMA can add value because they have not been the subject of detailed scrutiny internationally, and the CMA clearly has some targeted remedies in mind that it believes it can impose successfully.” “It seems at first glance that browsers and cloud gaming are a clever choice for intervention,” said Smith.
In a blog post, Tom Smith, an attorney with Geradin Partners, a competition law firm based in London and Brussels, argues that CMA appears to have made a sound choice by focusing on narrow aspects of the mobile ecosystem rather than trying to rewrite the rules of app stores in one go. Following the removal of the WebKit restriction, competition may help to drive up standards on iOS, but there may continue to be some features that would continue to be restricted within iOS or Android, and in some cases there may be a good case for requiring parity with the treatment of native apps.” “There is also a strong general case for a level playing field between the functionality availability to native app developers and web app developers. “We would therefore expect that there should be comparable API access between Safari and other browsers using WebKit.” “There is a strong case for requiring a level playing field between Apple’s browser (Safari) and third-party browser apps, regardless of whether the WebKit restriction is removed,” the final report says. The UK’s CMA also expressed interest in addressing competition issues related to web technology, specifically the unfairness of private browser APIs, browser engine diversity, and ensuring web apps can implement the same capabilities as native apps. The EU’s Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act contain new rules designed to foster competition, like disallowing Apple’s iOS requirement that all mobile browsers within its App Store be based on the company’s WebKit engine. Various bills that would regulate Apple and Google, among others, are being considered by US lawmakers and the Justice Department is pursuing an antitrust case against Google over its ad business, as are a number of US state Attorneys General. Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has forced Apple to allow reader apps to take payments outside the App Store and last year began looking into anticompetitive behavior in the mobile ecosystem, focused on Apple and Google. The Netherlands has taken similar steps specifically for dating apps. South Korea has required Apple and Google to allow third-party in-app payment vendors. The investigations of Apple and Google in the UK coincide with numerous competition inquiries by other countries, as well as legislation and lawsuits.
That leaves the CMA to pursue these matters to the extent allowed under its own powers, at least until such time as the DMU’s role has been defined. The UK earlier this year delayed defining the statutory powers of the Digital Markets Unit, which was set up within CMA last year to oversee big tech. “We regularly review how we can best support developers and have reacted quickly to CMA feedback in the past.”Īpple did not respond to a request for comment. Google Play has been the launchpad for millions of apps, helping developers create global businesses that support a quarter of a million jobs in the UK alone,” a Google spokesperson said. “Android phones offer people and businesses more choice than any other mobile platform. Asked to comment, a Google spokesperson said the company is considering the final report and will continue to engage with the CMA – as if the alternative, ignoring authorities until they break down the doors, were a viable option. Google also maintained that the status quo works well while taking issue with some of the CMA’s findings.
Back in March, 2022 when the CMA was still accepting input from tech firms on how it should proceed, Apple urged the UK regulator to look past the “often self-serving complaints from a limited number of the largest market participants,” as Apple’s law firm Gibson Dunn put it.
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