Australia Opens Antitrust Inquiry Into Apple's App Store

Australia is now investigating app store policies as part of yet another antitrust inquiry into Apple and Google (via Gizmodo).

iu

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced that it will investigate the competition between the Google Play store and Apple's App Store, access to platforms and consumers, fee structures, data collection, and price transparency. The work is part of an ACCC inquiry spanning five years, which intends to produce reports every six months examining markets for the supply of digital platform services in Australia.

"We want to know more about the market for mobile apps in Australia, including how transparent and effective the market is, for consumers as well as those operating in the market. We will also focus on the extent of competition between the major online app stores, and how they compete for app sales with other app providers," said ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard. "For app developers and suppliers, gaining a spot in one of the major app stores can result in significant sales, while failing to gain access can be a major setback. We are keen to provide greater transparency on how this process works. We are also interested in how data is used and shared in the app ecosystem, including the data available to Google and Apple as a result of their control of the major app stores."

The investigation will examine the experiences that Australians have with Apple and Google's app stores, including consumers, suppliers, and developers. Part of this will involve a public survey and the full report is set to be delivered in March 2021.

In recent months, similar inquiries have taken place in the United States, the European Union, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, and Korea, as big tech companies come under increasing scrutiny for allegedly monopolistic and anti-competitive practices.

Top Rated Comments

Shadows_lord Avatar
46 months ago
This whole single App store monopolistic policy eventually will not end well for Apple...
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ries Avatar
46 months ago

at this point why even agree to the terms and services?

If people are going to be petty can will also sue steam / google / playstation / nintendo? While we are at can we sue Facebook because they banned my advertising accounts because of breaching TOS?
Can we also sue google because they banned my Adsense account because of breaching TOS?

and I can go on and on. It's part of the game, if I want to make hate speech thread on macrumors I'll get banned quick for not following tos. Does this give me the right to sue them because I went full retard?

If epic rather looses all rev from apple users then have 70% it's on them.
Just because you agree to a TOS, doesn't mean it's enforceable/valid/legal. If apple put a:
* Your first born has to slave for 18 years in our Chinese factory

You think that's enforceable?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dmylrea Avatar
46 months ago

Breaking news: Company has full control over their own product.
News Update: Company has full control over other companies products (apps) and their money (in-app purchases).
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cardfan Avatar
46 months ago
Good to hear. Hopefully the US follows through as well.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cocky jeremy Avatar
46 months ago

This whole single App store monopolistic policy eventually will not end well for Apple...
Breaking news: Company has full control over their own product.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Anson_431 Avatar
46 months ago
I wonder which country is next in line to "investigate" to cash in on Apple lol
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...