The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has dropped investigations into tech giants Apple and Google for unfair monopolies.
Britain’s competition watchdog has made the decision awaiting new laws governing digital markets that may affect the outcome of any case, based on the competitiveness of both companies.
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Will Hayter, executive director for digital markets at the CMA said: “Once the new pro-competition digital markets regime comes into force, we’ll be able to consider applying those new powers to concerns we have already identified through our existing work.”
Both Apple and Google have come under fire previously for imposing unfair charges on app developers and for holding a monopoly over the distribution of apps in Britain.
A market study published in 2022 by the CMA looked at the mobile ecosystems in Britain and concluded that both tech companies had too much influence, restricting open and fair competition in the marketplace.
The watchdog subsequently launched parallel investigations into both companies for alleged anticompetitive behaviour.
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By GlobalDataIn a statement published on Wednesday (21 August), however, the watchdog stated that it had dropped both cases pending the roll-out of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA), which is expected to come into force later this year.
Apple has recently made changes to its app store policy to allow developers to communicate with potential customers and promote their own products and offers available outside of the Apple store.
This change took place after the company was charged by the European Commission (EC) in June for violating the Digital Markets Act.
A Google spokesperson for this case said its Android operating system had always allowed flexibility and choice not found on other platforms, including multiple app stores.
“We have engaged with the CMA over the course of many months during their investigation. As part of this, we made a number of significant commitments to further broaden the billing options available to developers through Google Play” they said.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
