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Britain’s competition regulator on Thursday launched an investigation into Apple and Google’s massive mobile ecosystems to determine whether the tech titans are breaching the UK’s tough new digital competition rules.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority said it was opening dual investigations against both US tech giants to assess the position they occupy in their respective mobile ecosystems, including smartphone-based operating systems, app stores and browsers. .
The investigations “will explore the impact on people who use mobile devices and on the thousands of companies that develop innovative services or content such as applications for these devices.” the CMA said.
“Apple believes in thriving, dynamic markets where innovation can flourish,” an Apple spokesperson told CNBC. “We face competition in all segments and jurisdictions where we operate, and our focus is always on the trust of our users.”
“In the UK alone, the iOS app economy supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and makes it possible for developers, large and small, to reach users on a trusted platform,” the Apple spokesperson added. “We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA as its work on this matter progresses.”
Google was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
New powers
The CMA now has enhanced regulatory powers after a new UK law, called the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act, or DMCC, came into force earlier this year.
The DMCC seeks to prevent anti-competitive behavior in digital markets. You can designate large companies that have a significant amount of market power in a given digital activity as having “strategic market status.”
The CMA now has the power to impose changes to prevent potential anti-competitive behavior by any company granted strategic market status.
