South Africa’s competition watchdog has ordered Apple and Google to make changes to their app stores for mobile devices.
Google Play and Apple App Store are unconstrained in the commission fees they charge app developers, and they limit competition, South Africa’s Competition Commission has found.
On these devices — smartphones and tablets — it is through apps, distributed through app stores, that digital content and services are provided. The Competition Commission also noted that many cheaper devices run on Android, resulting in the platform attracting more users. “The exclusion of alternative payment processing methods not only ensures that the commission fees cannot be bypassed by design, but also that the application store owns the customer relationship unless additional logins are required.”
“This means that where discovery of the app takes place through the application store, consumers will be ignorant of alternative payment options, limiting their discovery and use,” the inquiry found. “Given the market feature of millions of apps overall, and thousands in any single category, being sold through monopoly application stores on different device OSs, discoverability and visibility on those application stores is essential for apps to compete effectively,” the inquiry found.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
South Africa imposes penalties on Google - TechCentralThe Competition Commission has found that Google’s dominance in internet search “distorts platform competition”.
Read more »
Smackdown for UberEats, Mr D, Apple, Google, and Takealot in South AfricaThe Competition Commission has taken aim at a wide set of digital and online platforms in South Africa, demanding major changes across the board.
Read more »
Google’s business model distorts competition, CompCom findsGoogle must introduce a new platform sites unit to display smaller South African platforms relevant to the search, says the Competition Commission.
Read more »
SA watchdog hits Google, Takealot and Uber with new demands | BusinessSA's competition watchdog has demanded that Google, Uber Eats, Takealot and Apple take a range of steps to encourage competition from smaller companies. | News24_Business
Read more »
South Africa nails Google for ‘anti-competitive processes’ – demands big changesAccording to the Competition Commission, Google Search uses anti-competitive methods, and it must implement several major changes to its operations in South Africa.
Read more »
App stores must give prominence to SA developers: CompCom - TechCentralThe Competition Commission has ordered Apple and Google to give prominence to local apps in their app stores.
Read more »