The United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority possesses ad that it will “take a closer look” at the “effective duopoly” held by Google and Apple in the mobile world. He said the couple’s control over operating systems, app stores and web browsers could result in “losing consumers.” The AMC added that it was concerned that this control could “lead to reduced innovation” or see “customers paying higher prices for devices and applications.”
Unlike the formal work AMC has done with Google and Apple in recent months, it has only been a study for the moment. In a statement, Managing Director Andrea Coscelli said that while the country’s new tech regulator, the Digital Markets Unit – is still being implemented, surveys like this will help inform ‘future plans’. He added that this study will cover some of the same ground as these other projects to help build a “common approach across all these related cases”.
Documents published at the same time, explain that the ultimate goal of the work is to assess whether “markets falling within its scope are functioning well and in the interests of consumers”. This will include creating a rulebook for the Digital Markets Unit when it begins operations and promoting global regulatory alignment. He will also study network effects, consumer behavior and the power of default apps to inform consumer choice when buying phones.
The study has an initial period of 12 months and AMC accepts submissions from interested parties for the following month. He added that he was particularly interested in the opinions of application developers and their development experience for one or both of the systems in question.
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