The UK's competition watchdog has ruled that Apple and Google must face tougher regulatory oversight for their mobile platforms, conferring 'strategic market status' on both tech giants. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the companies hold 'substantial, entrenched' market power, with UK mobile phone owners using either Google or Apple's platforms and unlikely to switch between them.
The CMA said the two companies could act as a bottleneck for businesses, given the importance of their platforms to the UK economy. Will Hayter, the executive director for digital markets at the CMA, noted that the app economy generates 1.5% of the UK's GDP and supports about 400,000 jobs, stressing the need for these markets to work well for business.
Changes under consideration include allowing users to be 'steered' out of app stores to make purchases elsewhere, such as on a company's own website, and ensuring users have a 'genuine choice' over services like digital wallets on Apple. The move follows the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and the earlier designation of Google's search business.
Google described the decision as 'disappointing, disproportionate and unwarranted', arguing it undermines the pro-growth and pro-innovation promise of the new regime. Apple, a strong critic of EU-style regulation, said the UK's adoption of similar rules would weaken privacy and security, delay new features, and create a fragmented experience.
