The UK's CMA issues an interim report voicing concerns over Apple and Google's “vice-like grip” on the mobile ecosystem, hinting at future antitrust action

The UK's antitrust watchdog has given the clearest signal yet that interventions under an upcoming reform … Source: GOV.UK and GOV.UK .

TechCrunch 2021-12-15 Natasha Lomas

Discussion

@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
9/ The report directly compares the ATT opt-in prompt with the opt-in prompt for Apple's own advertising network, ASA https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Apple really got greedy here. They could easily have simply crippled the online advertising industry in exchange for the positive PR and increased iPhone sales. Instead they used it as an opportunity to tilt the playing field towards their own ads biz while claiming privacy.
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
UK's antitrust agency observes what many in the industry have noted that Apple calls what it does “personalized ads” and encourages opt-in while for everyone else it's “tracking” and encourages opt-out. This makes them billions and has cost companies like Snapchat the same. 🤔 htt…
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
This is the real battle for the metaverse: not the commercial rivalries between companies like Unity, Roblox, and Epic, who will all contribute to and benefit from open metaverse efforts, but the battle against the digital monopolies which seek to dominate, tax, and exclude. http…
@s8mb Sam Bowman on x
Every day I feel more depressed about the CMA. It seems to have completely swallowed the idea that companies are problems just for being successful (aka, “Big is Bad"). Language like this sounds openly hostile to capitalism. https://www.gov.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
@cmagovuk @cmagovuk on x
📱 Our provisional findings suggest #Apple and #Google's substantial market power across mobile operating systems, apps stores and browsers could be negatively affecting consumers. A thread 🔽. [1/5] https://twitter.com/...
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
7/ The report emphasizes the difference in efficacy of SKAdNetwork and the Apple Ads Attribution API https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
Google's lock on Android https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
First, as regulator, the CMA can get primary, internal data from the companies. Hence, UK market shares. Note the difference between sales and installed base - Apple devices last longer (and Fires don't) https://twitter.com/...
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
@kassadin_a The problem with Apple and Google monopolies isn't the fact that they profit from making products - they deserve those profits. It's that the use their control the OS to prevent competition in other markets like stores, payments, and curation.
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
2/ The CMA seems to accede to Apple's stated goal of ATT, which is consumer choice, which is odd because they spend a great deal of effort later in the Appendix highlighting the differences between ATT and native Apple consent prompts https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
UK app download share and trends https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
Yes Apple controls the browser on iOS, but web apps on Android don't do much better. Some people told the CMA that's bleed-across from iOS - not sure that's persuasive. https://twitter.com/...
@thomaszeman ThomasZ on x
@slightlylate You need to be completely naive to not see the global company strategy behind this which is “foster App Store wherever possible, do everything to keep the web experience on ios mediocre” These lawyers are probably more expensive than implementing the missing tests /…
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
3/ Some interesting data on opt-in rates https://twitter.com/...
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
5/ The CMA recognizes that ATT has resulted in a higher cost of acquiring users for apps (I wish they had conducted this same exercise for eg. web-based ecommerce sales impacted by ATT) https://twitter.com/...
@slightlylate Alex Russell on x
The UK CMA has issued an interim report on mobile ecosystems, and the 236-page appendix is a bloody goldmine: https://www.gov.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
What actually drives app downloads? Again, primary data - before Apple changed the rules, a quarter of iOS installs were coming from in-app ads. https://twitter.com/...
@slightlylate Alex Russell on x
@ThomasZeman Commissioner, please disregard these tests that we're making a big stink about not getting enough credit for.
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
16/ In all, the Appendix is worth reading for anyone following this space. I wrote up my thoughts on how ATT advantages Apple's own ad network in this piece, which the CMA cites in the report https://mobiledevmemo.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
UK Competition Agency is very Not Persuaded by Apple's distinction between ‘tracking’ (other people do that) and ‘personalisation’ (Apple) https://twitter.com/...
@geradinlaw Damien Geradin on x
Vice-like grip 💯👇 https://twitter.com/...
@lukolejnik Lukasz Olejnik on x
“Apple/Google leverage market power to create self-contained ecosystems ... argue that these controls are needed to maintain the security and quality of the service to their users, to safeguard users' personal information” https://www.gov.uk/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Someone pointed out that the most unexpected consequence of Brexit was that the UK's antitrust regulator would go even harder against big tech than the EU. I've got to agree, this was way unexpected. https://techcrunch.com/...
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
10/ Apple apparently considered a different ordering of the opt-in choices for the ATT prompt that the CMA believes would have materially impacted opt-in rates. Ultimately, Apple chose to use a configuration that emphasizes the opt-out selection https://twitter.com/...
@slightlylate Alex Russell on x
From the main report, deeply (and correctly) damning: [We have found that by requiring all browsers on iOS devices to use its WebKit browser engine, Apple controls and sets the boundaries of the quality and functionality of all browsers on iOS.]
@appfairness @appfairness on x
CAF welcomes the @CMAgovUK interim report on mobile ecosystems. Provisional findings stress consumers & developers are losing out because of dominant platforms' “duopoly” and their vice-like grip on payments and app distribution. Time to #OpenTheAppStores to fair competition🔓 htt…
@geradinlaw Damien Geradin on x
Excellent work by the @CMAgovUK again. Now time to think about the remedies! https://twitter.com/...
@geradinlaw Damien Geradin on x
Selective reading 😂😂 The report is a brutal rebuttal to the arguments made by Apple to preserve its App Store monopoly. https://twitter.com/...
@slightlylate Alex Russell on x
The more you understand about browser development, the more brutal these self-owns by Apple's lawyers appear...and I guess that's the point? https://twitter.com/...
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
14/ The CMA points out that Apple's design choices for the opt-in prompt for its own ad network influence users to opt into what Apple determines is “ads personalization” (vs. tracking, as in the ATT prompt) https://twitter.com/...
@keleftheriou Kosta Eleftheriou on x
UK competition regulator today: https://www.gov.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
Apple ads were $1.5-2bn last year https://twitter.com/...
@geradinlaw Damien Geradin on x
The @CMAgovUK has just published its Interim Report on its Mobile Ecosystems Market Study, finding that “Apple and Google duopoly limits competition and choice.” https://www.gov.uk/...
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today published the Mobile ecosystems market study interim report. The report is exhaustive & mostly covers commercial platform policy but there is an appendix dedicated to ATT. Thoughts in a thread (1/X) https://www.gov.uk/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
1: This is a lot of work by one dedicated agency on one quite narrow topic. They actually read the 10k. That reflects a difference in the institutional structure (and funding) of regulation between the US and most of its peers
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
And 2: this isn't a lawsuit, there won't really be a court case, and no-one has to persuade a judge that Apple or Google broke a law written in the 19th century before they can try to change the market structure. Again, a different institutional structure for regulation.
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
And a more general point - if one looks both at the Giphy case and the US constitution's block on content moderation laws - how much is the US going to become a net receiver of regulation written in foreign jurisdictions and applied de facto to US companies operating in the USA?
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
The UK CMA, the competition authority, just published its interim report on mobile ecosystems - APIs, app stores, browsers and browser engines, ATT and more. 681 pages. Two observations: https://www.gov.uk/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
@benedictevans The U.S. became a net recipient of tech regulation after GDPR. It's just more obvious now that the U.S. is incapable of passing meaningful regulation while every other major jurisdiction from China & Russia to the EU & U.K. is reshaping how big tech companies opera…
@matthfield Matt Field on x
CMA says iOS and Android have strategic market power, and demands remedies such as side-loading, easier switching and alternative payment methods in apps https://www.gov.uk/...
@katebevan @katebevan on x
oh god encouraging sideloading is a *terrible* idea. You can already sideload, but it's turned off by default on Android for very good reasons cc @mediascribbles https://twitter.com/...
@simonjharris @simonjharris on x
3/3 Critically the ATT undermines developer & publishers ability to make money from their apps & which pushes them into Apple's $1.5bn system which doesn't play by the same rules. Clearly Apple “acting in a quasi-regulatory capacity"has significant commercial upside. https://twit…
@simonjharris @simonjharris on x
2/3 The CMA is concerned that the untested designs which Apple makes other developers use may unduly influence consent rates via dark patterns. Apple may have to change this soon, today it was announced such dark patterns will be banned in the EU in 2022 via Digital Services Act …
@cmagovuk @cmagovuk on x
Our provisional findings also suggest: 💷 customers could be facing higher prices than they would in a more competitive market. [3/5]
@cmagovuk @cmagovuk on x
And: 🔒 #Apple and #Google take many decisions on behalf of their users to protect their security and privacy online - in some cases this has an impact on a user's ability to make their own choices. [4/5]
@simonjharris @simonjharris on x
For anyone interested in the mobile ecosystem this part of the CMA report is damning: They found Apple leverages ordering effects to manipulate choice. Users mostly pick the 1st option, for 3rd parties on ATT this is “Ask not to track” for Apple it's “Turn on” cc @eric_seufert ht…
@s8mb Sam Bowman on x
Apple and Google have got to where they are by offering unbelievably good products, not via anticompetitive practices. Even if you disagree with how they use their market positions, it's embarrassing for the CMA to describe fairly-won success like this.
@simonjharris @simonjharris on x
1/3 @benedictevans is right the U.K CMA report on mobile ecosystems really is very interesting so here's a short🧵on some key points. Apple claims they didn't do any testing of the ATT consent modal prior to launch & they use a substantially different approahc for their own apps. …
@cmagovuk @cmagovuk on x
We've set out interventions that could promote greater #competition and choice in this sector✔️ Find out more: https://www.gov.uk/... #Mobiles
@s8mb Sam Bowman on x
This isn't to say that any intervention = bad. But if the CMA doesn't distinguish between market success from offering a great product versus from anticompetitive practices, it's now really not a friend of consumers at all - it's just working for big companies' *competitors*.
@s8mb Sam Bowman on x
I don't know if it's driven by the org wanting more power - it is lobbying the govt to get regulatory powers over Big Tech. Or it may just be that “Big is Bad” is currently fashionable and they've been swayed by it. Either way, the CMA is becoming an enemy of free markets, IMO.
@s8mb Sam Bowman on x
The CMA was once a powerful advocate for consumers and free markets. Eg, in 2015, its then-CEO criticised TFL plans to regulate Uber, and argued that consumers should be able to choose themselves. Today the CMA would be *cheering on* more regulation. https://www.ft.com/...
@jcbcp Jacob Parry on x
Apple and Google have a “vice-like grip” on mobile devices, says 🇬🇧 @CMAgovUK in its interim mobile ecosystems market study. Final report to come in June 2022. https://www.gov.uk/...

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The UK's CMA issues an interim report voicing concerns over Apple and Google's “vice-like grip” on the mobile ecosystem, hinting at future antitrust action

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