The UK's CMA plans a market investigation into Apple's App Store restrictions on cloud gaming alongside Apple and Google's market power in mobile browsers
Apple and Google “hold all the cards” with interventions needed to give innovators and competitors a fair chance to compete in mobile ecosystems
GOV.UK
Context & Ripple Effects
The CMA had already signaled scrutiny of Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems in 2021. This report narrows that concern to two access points: Apple’s App Store rules for cloud gaming and the pair’s position in mobile browsers.
The proposal became a formal next step in related coverage, with the CMA later launching its investigation into mobile-browser and cloud-gaming dominance. That progression makes the story an early marker of the regulator treating platform rules as competition infrastructure rather than isolated product policies.
First-order effects
Apple faces planned CMA scrutiny of App Store restrictions affecting cloud-gaming services, while Apple and Google face examination of their market power in mobile browsers.
Cloud-gaming providers and mobile-browser competitors gain a defined competition process through which to challenge the access conditions set by Apple and Google.
Second-order effects
By examining cloud gaming and browsers together, the CMA puts Apple’s store governance and both companies’ browser control under a shared competitive lens, increasing pressure to justify rules that shape rivals’ distribution.
The investigation path gives competitors a regulatory alternative to negotiating access solely on Apple’s and Google’s terms, following the CMA’s earlier mobile-ecosystem investigation signal.
Third-order effects
If the CMA’s approach holds, mobile ecosystems will be assessed increasingly through the combined effects of store rules, browser defaults, and service access, rather than through any one policy in isolation.
Competition oversight of platform governance may make access terms a durable regulatory issue for mobile gatekeepers, especially where those terms determine whether new services can reach users.
The trend: Competition authorities are moving from broad mobile-ecosystem concerns toward scrutiny of the specific platform rules that govern rival services’ access to users.
We're consulting on launching a market investigation into #Apple and #Google's power over: 📱 mobile browsers and ☁️ cloud gaming on mobile devices We're also taking action against Google in relation to its app store payment practices 💳 #Digital #Smartphones https://twitter.com/..…
Final report from @CMAgovUK: https://www.gov.uk/... I'm not sure what the UK govt can actually do here (and this is relevant to me, as I live in UK now), but I was pleased to read that security *isn't* a valid excuse for Apple to refuse other browser engines onto iOS. https://twi…
Breaking: UK antitrust regulator the CMA says its found Apple and Google run “an effective duopoly on mobile ecosystems” and now will consult on how it can use its powers to intervene in the market.
I'm impressed with the CMA's market studies and extensive detail in its 356 page report. Here's hoping that regulators will eventually force Apple to open up its App Store and lift iOS browser restrictions.
The CMA is also launching a separate competition law investigation into Google's restrictions on in-app payments via the Play Store, mirroring the investigation into the Apple App Store launched over a year ago.
“Apple and Google “hold all the cards” with interventions needed to give innovators and competitors a fair chance to compete in mobile ecosystems” https://www.gov.uk/... The U.K's antitrust watchdog putting down a big marker here on Big Tech
Big news for Google and Apple today - the UK competition regulator, the CMA, is launching a market investigation into their “duopoly” on mobile ecosystems. These investigations can lead to serious action including structural separation. https://www.gov.uk/...
UK regulator (CMA) is launching an investigation into Apple and Google's power over cloud gaming and mobile browsers. The CMA successfully forced Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony to remove their auto-renewal of subscriptions recently https://www.gov.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
.@CMAgovUK will launch a market investigation into mobile browsers and cloud gaming. Apple and Google “hold all the cards” and intervention likely necessary, says agency head https://www.gov.uk/...
The Competition and Markets Authority is now one of the most active antitrust regulators in the world and is clearly striking out on its own path from the EU/FTC ono Big Tech — see the ongoing wrangles with Meta over Giphy
The UK's CMA is launching a market investigation into Apple and Google over their “effective duopoly on mobile ecosystems.” https://www.gov.uk/... Part of the probe will look at how Apple has made it difficult for cloud gaming services to get past its strict App Store rules. 🎮
1/ The @CMAgovUK has published its final report into the ‘Mobile ecosystems market study’ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u k/ ... The report proposes a number of interventions and a market investigation reference wrt mobile browsers and cloud gaming (see Section 9 page 339…