The British competition authority is very concerned about the market dominance of Google and Apple and its consequences for consumers.
According to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), consumers in the mobile market are being “held in a grip” by those tech companies, limiting choice and driving prices up.
The CMA is investigating the dominance of US companies in mobile phone operating systems and argues that, because of that power, they have developed ecosystems of their own, so to speak. This leaves less choice for consumers.
“Apple and Google have developed a grip on how we use mobile phones. We are concerned that this could harm millions of people in the UK,” the chief executive of the CMA said in a statement.
The watchdog is studying options to tackle corporate power. This could make it easier for users to switch between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems without losing certain features or data. It also looks at Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store and ways to circumvent them when installing apps.
