Apple, Google Mobile Ecosystems Should Be Investigated, CMA Told

The British competition regulator is being urged to conduct a full scale investigation of the Apple and Google mobile ecosystem.

On Friday 22 November, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) independent inquiry group announced it had “carried out an in-depth assessment of the mobile browser markets and has provisionally concluded that they are not working well for UK businesses and millions of phone users.”

It comes after the CMA in June 2021 had begun an investigation into the mobile ecosystem of both Apple and Google.

Apple, Google ecosystems

Just before that in March 2021, the CMA had opened its investigation into Apple’s distribution of apps on iOS and iPadOS devices in the UK. But in August 2024 the CMA closed down that App Store investigation.

However, a CMA independent inquiry group was still examining the Apple, Google mobile ecosystem, and now the CMA is being urged to use its new powers to probe Apple, Google smartphone browser duopoly.

The CMA’s independent inquiry group especially took issue with Apple browser rules.

“Most concerns that have been identified relate to Apple’s policies that determine how mobile browsers, which are the way we access the web on mobiles, work on Apple’s devices,” said the group.

Effective duopoly

The CMA’s initial investigation found that Apple and Google have an effective duopoly on mobile ecosystems, including operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices.

“This puts Apple and Google in a position to set the rules on how mobile browsers can work on iOS and Android devices respectively,” the group stated.

The group provisionally found that Apple’s rules restrict other competitors from being able to deliver new, innovative features that could benefit consumers.

The group pointed out that other browser providers have highlighted concerns that they have been unable to offer a full range of browser features, such as faster webpage loading on iPhone.

Many smaller UK app developers also apparently told the CMA that they would like to use progressive web apps – an alternative way for businesses to provide apps to mobile users without downloading apps through an app store – but this technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices.

In addition, the group has provisionally found that a revenue-sharing agreement between Google and Apple significantly reduces their financial incentives to compete in mobile browsers on iOS.

Other issues considered in the report include the way that users are presented with choices about which browser they use. The Group has provisionally found that Apple and Google can manipulate these choices to make their own browsers the clearest or easiest option.

Mobile cloud gaming

The investigation has also looked at mobile cloud gaming.

The group looked into concerns over how cloud gaming apps are distributed through app stores, with the primary concern being that Apple did not allow cloud gaming apps to be available on the App Store at all.

During the course of the investigation, the group noted that Apple has made changes which allow cloud gaming apps to be sold via the App Store and it had seen some evidence of such apps emerging.

Given that the primary underlying concern has fallen away, the group has provisionally concluded there is no need for intervention by the CMA in mobile cloud gaming, it stated.

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act

The group has therefore provisionally decided that an effective and comprehensive means of addressing its provisional findings is to recommend that the CMA board prioritises investigating Apple’s and Google’s activities in mobile ecosystems under new digital markets competition rules coming into force next year.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill was passed in May 2024 and it gives the CMA the ability to designate firms as having Strategic Market Status (SMS) in relation to a digital activity and impose appropriate interventions. In order to designate a firm as having SMS, the CMA must undertake a formal investigation.

Should any such SMS investigations result in designations and appropriate interventions, the recommended course of action would improve competitive conditions in these markets.

“Markets work best when rival businesses are able to develop and bring innovative options to consumers,” said Margot Daly, chair of the CMA’s independent inquiry group. “Through our investigation, we have provisionally found that competition between different mobile browsers is not working well and this is holding back innovation in the UK.”

“The analysis set out in this report and a range of potential interventions considered to address the market issues identified by the Group merits consideration by the CMA board under its new powers, which have been specifically designed for digital markets,” said Daly. “Under those new powers, the CMA can consider the case for designating firms with strategic market status, taking account of the interplay between the specific markets that are the subject of this market investigation and Apple’s and Google’s wider mobile ecosystems.”

The CMA said it is inviting comments on its provisional findings by 13 December and expects to make a final decision in March 2025.