A U.K. competition authority investigation has determined that the policies of Apple and Google regarding mobile browsers are significantly limiting innovation and economic growth. The report highlights that Apple's use of its WebKit engine restricts browser differentiation and feature enhancement for competitors. Moreover, the findings point to revenue-sharing arrangements between Apple and Google that diminish competition by reducing incentives to enhance their mobile browser offerings, ultimately affecting consumers' access to new features and hindering business communication through these apps.
Mobile browsers are apps which provide the primary gateway for consumers to access the web on their mobile devices, and hence for businesses to reach them with their content and products. The issues we have identified mean that consumers could be missing out on new features when using mobile browsers; and businesses are limited in their ability to reach consumers through browser apps.
Most of the concerns identified relate to Apple's policies that determine how mobile browsers, the way we access the web on mobiles, work on Apple's devices, which limits their ability to differentiate versus Apple's own Safari browser.
We have found that Apple and Google earn significant revenue when their key rival's mobile browser is used on iOS for web searches on Google, significantly reducing their financial incentives to compete.
These include issues such as Apple mandating the use of its WebKit browser engine for other browsers on iOS, and limits on in-browsing which puts limits on rival browsers' ability to serve app users.
Collection
[
|
...
]