The UK mobile browser market is “not working well for consumers and businesses,” the UK antitrust authority has said in a final report, which says Apple and Google are largely to blame.
An independent investigation team has concluded its investigation into mobile browsers for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), finding that Apple’s policies on iOS, Safari and WebKit make it difficult for third-party web browser vendors to compete and, as a result, restrict the market. Google’s Android mobile ecosystem is also implicated in the antitrust abuse, the CMA report said.
Among the problems identified in the investigation are Apple’s requirement that all browsers on iOS run on its WebKit engine, giving Safari preferential access to features over competing WebKit-based browsers, restrictions on web browsing in apps, and the pre-installed and prominent Safari browser on iPhones as the default browser. While users can change the default web browser on their iPhone, the researchers say that making Safari the default browser on the iPhone reduces users’ awareness of alternative apps.
The researchers found similar issues with the pre-installed Chrome as the default web browser on the vast majority of Android devices. However, the report notes that both Apple and Google have taken steps to make it easier for users to switch to alternative browsers since the investigation’s preliminary findings in November, which “addressed some, but not all, of the issues related to the choice architecture.”
The investigation also found that revenue-sharing arrangements, under which Google pays Apple a significant share of search revenue in exchange for being the default search engine on the iPhone, “significantly reduce the financial incentive to compete.”
The AMC has proposed potential measures aimed at improving competition in the UK mobile browser market, which include forcing Apple to allow developers to use alternative browser mechanisms on iOS, requiring Apple and Google to offer a browser selection screen during device setup, and prohibiting Chrome revenue-sharing arrangements between the two companies. These proposals are not currently legally binding, but this could change in the coming months.
