England’s opposition party said it wanted to look into the market strength of Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) and Google’s flexible programmes, as well as the iPhone maker’s restrictions on cloud gaming through its application store.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Friday that it was also taking action against Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL.O) Google for how it instals apps in its app store.
It said that the two tech giants had a “successful duopoly” on portable environments, which gave them a tight hold on frameworks, app stores, and web browsers that work on cell phones.
“Apple and Google have every advantage when it comes to how people use cell phones,” CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said after a report on portable ecosystems was released.
“No matter how good a lot of their services and products seem to be, their strengths in mobile environments allow them to shut out competitors, which keeps the British tech industry small and limits choice.”
It said that 97 percent of all mobile web browsing in Britain last year was controlled by either Apple’s or Google’s app engine. What’s more, Apple stopped iPhone users from using apps other than its own.
The CMA said it was worried that this would make it hard for competing programmes to stand out from Apple’s Safari, for example, by being faster or more useful.
Apple said in an explanation that its biological system “creates a safe and trusted experience that customers love and an amazing business opportunity for engineers.”
“We can’t help but disagree with some of the report’s conclusions, which put our interests in innovation, security, and user experience down. All of these things help explain why people love the iPhone and iPad and give small developers a fair chance to compete on a trusted platform, “an Apple representative said.
“We will keep talking to the CMA in a helpful way to figure out how our method improves competition and decision-making while making sure buyers’ safety and security are always protected.”
Google said that phones with its Android operating system give people and businesses more options than other mobile platforms, and its Google Play app store has been the platform for many apps.
A Google rep said, “We often ask engineers how we can help them the most, and we have responded quickly to CMA criticism in the past.”
“We’ll look over the report and keep talking with the CMA,“
The controller also said it was worried that Apple would stop the growth of cloud gaming services, which let high-quality games be streamed instead of just downloaded.
“By not letting this area grow, Apple is taking a chance that portable clients will miss out on all the benefits of cloud gaming,” it said.
The CMA said that its proposed investigation would also look into its own interests and could lead to legal restrictions on requests to change how Apple and Google do business.
The deadline for comments on the proposed market examination reference is July 22.