You mean like..... Apple pulling out of UK?
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UK Begins Market Investigation into Apple and Google's Mobile Dominance
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You mean like..... Apple pulling out of UK?
BlackBerry attempted this with their latest smartphone line of product. They failed and decided to shut down (at least for now) their mobile devices business. Their original Blackberry devices’ underlying idea was good, but they got stuck on their 90’s mindset while the world evolved.
Same goes for Microsoft - as proven by the now “Amazon Store app” you can download on Windows 11, allowing one to run Android apps on Windows computers.
Can’t tell if you’re in favor of cartels or want the full blown corporate world experience of Snow Crash.
Please also investigate Apple's security practices and data collection.
One thing you missed! The devices these OS's go on, are not particularly good, and that is why I, as an example, don't purchase those devices.
Do you really not know what the government "produces"?
How about the education system, healthcare, public roads, parks, laws, fire departments, social programs?
The Windows Phones were all given rave reviews (they were produced by Nokia).
Apple can finally stop installing Safari with all their OSes.
Great... UK Government, a slimey, two-faced bunch of greedy, incompetent, arrogant half wits are going to investigate - what could possibly go wrong?
I hope they can investigate Coca Cola and Pepsi's cola dominance next!
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These governments should not be getting involved. They are always looking for trouble.
They are always looking for a new source of tax revenue. I'm sure that in the aftermath of Brexit the UK has been scrambling to find some way to squeeze more taxes out of citizens and industry to keep the worm-ridden ship of state from sinking.
Since Microsoft blew any opportunity to become a major player in the mobile world and Apple and Google are the only remaining games in town, this seems like a total waste of time.
They are just as bad. Dictating how we live our lives. And lot of things already have gone/do go wrong as a consequence of their politics.
A company can reach and/or maintain dominance simply by having a better product but they can also reach and/or maintain dominance through unfair anticompetitive behavior e.g., restricting or blocking competition, predatory pricing, collusion, etc. The issue is not (or should not be) about the dominance alone, it's about the dominance combined with potentially unfair anticompetitive behavior such as restricting alternative app store and sideloading for apps or browser extensions, restricting browser engines, etc.
Also, "citizens" are not just the consumers buying the products but also current or potential competitors and companies that do business one way or another with the dominant company. Going back to the Microsoft charges in the 1990s, there probably weren't a lot of Windows/PC end users who were complaining about or felt they were being harmed by Microsoft providing Internet Explorer for "free" (compared to Netscape which was mostly charging for Navigator at the time) but that didn't mean Microsoft wasn't using its market power, dominance, etc. to unfairly control the market and block competition.
Symbian was the dominant smartphone OS prior to Android.
Nokia tried to pivot to touchscreens but fumbled significantly with the implementation before abandoning it entirely to strike a deal with Microsoft.
Windows Phone should have been successful but was effectively strangled by Google, who refused to make their services available on the platform (presumably Google knew they needed to kill of Windows Phone to ensure Android’s dominance). It worked.
Not allowing alternative app stores doesn’t actually prevent businesses from reaching customers, but it certainly makes it more difficult for them since they’d need to attract those people via the internet rather than an app.
The only place where I can see Apple genuinely being anti-competitive is with Apple Music and Apple TV+, neither of which have to pay commission to sell subscriptions on the App Store. They either need to be spun off as separate companies where the commission does apply, or the commission rate for competing services should be the same as what Apple pays (i.e., nothing). The commission for other apps I see no problem with.
Funny. I live in the UK and wasn't aware of any consultation as a digital consumer. I'd like to know who contributed to the consultation and how it was conducted.
If you are only talking about popular cell phone manufacturers then South Korea’s Samsung should have been mentioned at least. As far as software, Google originated Android OS and Apple developed iPhone OS, and both competed against Blackberry and Nokia and Microsoft and people preferred Apple and Google for smartphone OS’s. Unless someone has factual information about strong arm tactics against other systems I don’t think a company should be punished for becoming popular.
An Apple spokesperson said: "We will continue to engage constructively with the Competition and Markets Authority to explain how our approach promotes competition and choice, while ensuring consumers' privacy and security are always protected. I mean, except for pictures on iCloud. Those just get copied and sent to random devices, lol.”
Such a waste of time and money. I'd rather governments figure out how to reduce their payrolls and the burden of regulations.