First-order effects

• Apple and Google are now the named subjects of an open call for submissions, meaning their default-placement arrangements — Chrome on Android, Safari as iOS's preinstalled browser — become formal evidence in an Australian regulatory file rather than private commercial terms.
• Browser makers smaller than the two giants get a state-sanctioned channel to argue for mandated choice screens or opt-out flows during devices' initial setup.

Second-order effects

• If defaults are curbed, Google loses its highest-volume search distribution channel on new devices, pressuring the economics that let it fund publisher payouts under the bargaining code — the very code this consultation follows.
• Rival browser developers and device makers would be forced into a compliance posture where setup screens and preinstalls are regulated artifacts, raising the cost of shipping software with any bundled default in Australia.

Third-order effects

• The move extends Australian platform governance from content payments into interface design itself, signaling that regulators see default placement — not just news licensing — as the structural source of gatekeeper power.
• If the pattern holds, other jurisdictions weighing their own platform rules gain a template for regulating how software presents choices at setup, making defaults a standard regulatory target alongside app-store terms and privacy obligations.