What Apple's UK SMS Designation Means for Browsers and Web Apps
6 months ago
- #Web Browsers
- #Apple
- #Competition Regulation
- The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has designated Apple as having Strategic Market Status (SMS), granting the CMA authority to enforce remedies related to browser and web app restrictions on iOS.
- Key outcomes include compelling Apple to allow third-party browsers to use their own engines, provide equivalent functionality access, and remove barriers to web app adoption.
- Strategic Market Status (SMS) designation indicates substantial market power but does not imply wrongdoing. It applies to firms with significant UK or global turnover.
- The CMA can impose bespoke codes of conduct or pro-competition interventions on designated firms like Apple and Google.
- Potential obligations for Apple include allowing alternative browser engines, improving web app functionality, and altering choice architecture to support user choice.
- Apple’s WebKit restriction on iOS prevents third-party browsers from using their own engines, stifling competition and innovation.
- The CMA found that web apps are not viable competitors to native apps on iOS due to Apple’s restrictions and lack of discoverability.
- Apple’s revenue from services, including the App Store and Google search deals, is growing, incentivizing restrictions on third-party browsers and web apps.
- The CMA grouped Apple’s iOS, iPadOS, App Store, Safari, and WebKit as a single digital activity ('Apple’s Mobile Platform') to address interlinked competition issues.
- Other regulators globally, including the EU, US, Japan, and Australia, are also investigating Apple’s anti-competitive practices.