UK Regulator Targets Apple and Google Mobile Dominance with New Oversight Powers

Enhanced Regulatory Scrutiny for Tech Giants

The UK’s competition watchdog has designated both Apple and Google as holding “strategic market status” for their mobile ecosystems, according to reports, marking a significant escalation in regulatory pressure on the tech giants. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that both companies require stricter oversight due to their “substantial, entrenched” power in mobile operating systems, app stores, and browsers.

Enhanced Regulatory Scrutiny for Tech Giants
Economic Impact and Market Concerns
Potential Changes to Mobile Ecosystems
Company Responses and Industry Implications

Sources indicate this designation means Apple and Google will be subjected to tailored conduct requirements regulating their behavior in the UK mobile market. The move comes under the new regulatory regime established by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and follows similar scrutiny of Google’s search business.

Economic Impact and Market Concerns

The CMA emphasized the crucial role these platforms play in the UK economy, with reports suggesting the app economy generates approximately 1.5% of the country’s GDP and supports about 400,000 jobs. Will Hayter, the executive director for digital markets at the CMA, stated that “Apple and Google’s mobile platforms are used by thousands of businesses right across the economy to market and sell products and services to millions of customers, but the platforms’ rules may be limiting innovation and competition.”

Analysts suggest the regulator’s concern stems from the platforms potentially acting as bottlenecks for businesses, with UK mobile phone owners predominantly using either Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS systems and showing limited tendency to switch between them.

Potential Changes to Mobile Ecosystems

The report states that changes under consideration include allowing users to be “steered” out of app stores to make purchases directly on company websites, addressing long-standing developer complaints about Apple and Google taking significant cuts from in-app purchases. The CMA also wants both companies to ensure users have “genuine choice” over services like digital wallets on their devices.

This approach mirrors regulatory actions taken by the European Union under its Digital Markets Act, suggesting a coordinated international effort to rein in the market power of major tech platforms. According to analysts, these changes could fundamentally alter how consumers interact with their mobile devices and make digital purchases.

Company Responses and Industry Implications

Google described the CMA decision as “disappointing, disproportionate and unwarranted,” with senior competition director Oliver Bethell stating the company doesn’t “see the rationale for today’s designation decision” given the regime’s promised pro-growth and pro-innovation focus.

Apple, which has been a vocal critic of the EU’s tech regulatory regime, also criticized the move, warning that “the UK’s adoption of EU-style rules would undermine that, leaving users with weaker privacy and security, delayed access to new features, and a fragmented, less seamless experience.”

The development represents one of the most significant regulatory challenges yet to the mobile duopoly’s business models in the UK market. Industry observers suggest this could set precedents for how other jurisdictions approach regulation of dominant mobile platforms.