Apple and Google face stricter UK competition controls on their mobile platforms

US tech giants Apple and Google face stricter competition oversight in the UK after the country’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) designated their mobile platforms as having so-called “strategic market status” (SMS) on Wednesday.

The SMS status means Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android can be subject to bespoke rules as the CMA applies a pro-competition UK regulatory reform which is similar in aim to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The CMA said the pair’s mobile and tablet operating systems, app distribution, mobile browsers, and browser engines will face special abuse controls.

For Google, covered products include Android, Play, Chrome, and Blink, per a company statement.

In July, the CMA signalled it was likely to designate the two tech giants’ mobile platforms, setting out a range of concerns about their grip on the mobile ecosystem, such as restrictions on app developers that stop them from pointing their users to offers outside the tech giants’ own app stores.

The UK approach is similar in aim to the EU’s DMA, which has designated Apple and Google as “gatekeepers” and their respective app stores as “core platform services” – meaning they must comply with a series of obligations including anti-steering measures and a ban on self-preferencing.

Earlier this year, Apple received a fine of €500 million for violating the DMA’s anti-steering obligation and could still face further penalties. In Google’s case, so far the Commission preliminarily found that its mobile app store breached the DMA but has not issued a fine as yet.

“Apple and Google’s mobile platforms[‘]… rules may be limiting innovation and competition,” said Will Hayter, the CMA’s Executive Director, in a statement on Wednesday.

In its own statement, Google called the CMA’s decision “disappointing, disproportionate, and unwarranted”. Oliver Bethell, Google’s Senior Competition Director, further hit out at the new UK regime – questioning whether the competition reform was living up to its “pro-growth and innovation” billing.

Earlier this month, the CMA designated Google’s search and ad business as SMS, meaning they also face special abuse controls.

(nl)