Tag: Apple
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Full steam ahead for the UK Digital Markets Unit
UK politics has been in a parlous state. Today the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer attempted to stabilize the country’s finances by announcing some eye-watering tax rises and spending cuts in the Autumn Statement. However, of more relevance to readers of this blog, he also made a significant announcement about the legislation required to implement…
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Antitrust is turning its eye to gaming
Last week, I spoke at the Video Games Bar Association’s annual summit which took place at devcom in Cologne, Germany. The event confirmed to me that gaming is where the innovative technologies of the future are in many ways already a reality today. It was my contention at the conference that competition law is turning…
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The CMA Final Report on the Mobile Ecosystems market study: a repudiation of Apple’s narrative over privacy and safety as justifications for the status quo
On 10 June 2022, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its Final Report on its year-long market study into mobile ecosystems – namely mobile operating systems, app stores, and web browsers. The CMA found that Apple and Google have a tight grip over these increasingly crucial ecosystems, which in turn places them in…
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Spotify and Google Announce User Choice Billing: A preliminary assessment
Yesterday, Spotify announced on its corporate website a multiyear agreement with Google, which “represents a first-of-its-kind option in payment choice and offers opportunities for both consumers and developers.” A parallel announcement was made by Google on the same day. While the exact terms of the agreement are not known, the Spotify announcement says that: “Users…
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Apple’s constructive refusal to comply with the law: A harbinger of things to come?
In August 2021, the Autoriteit Consument & Markt (“ACM”), the Dutch competition authority, adopted following a two-year investigation, a decision finding that Apple’s App Store payment policies as they applied to dating app providers amounted to an abuse of a dominant position in breach of Article 102 TFEU. As explained in an earlier blog post,…
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Google announces Privacy Sandbox on Android
Greetings to our readers – I haven’t published in a while, but Google’s latest announcement could not keep waiting. Google has just announced its plan to build the Privacy Sandbox on Android, with the stated aim of “introducing new, more private advertising solutions.” This comes only a couple of days after the UK Competition and…
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Apple’s cloud gaming restrictions may be biggest news in CMA interim report
As we explained in December, the CMA’s interim report on mobile ecosystems was a great piece of work which takes a holistic view of mobile ecosystems and the competition problems associated with these ecosystems. One concern raised in the interim report was not previously seen in the multiple reports and decisions issued by competition authorities…
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The Interim Report of the CMA’s Market Study on Mobile Ecosystems : A Great Piece of Work
On 14 December 2021, the CMA published the Interim Report of its Market Study on Mobile Ecosystems. This is a massive (445 pages + annexes) piece of work, which is – as always with the CMA – extremely well done. The purpose of this Interim Report is for the CMA to share the content of…
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The P2B Regulation is not consigned to oblivion: ACM launches market study, reminding us that transparency in the platform economy is important
The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) announced a few days ago that it will launch a market study into how platforms deal with the rules laid down in the Platform-to-Business (P2B) Regulation. The P2B Regulation is a regulatory initiative that may not have received the attention it deserves. This could be explained by…
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Harnessing digital disruption in the radio industry – an interview with Bauer Media Audio
Today’s blog post is an interview with our friend Philip Pilcher, Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Bauer Media Audio. Philip has some interesting insights into the future of radio at a time when listening habits are changing and the digital platforms are playing an increasingly central role. He will describe in particular how…