The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially dropped its antitrust investigation into Apple over the App Store, WebKit, and Xbox Cloud Gaming policies. But things might not be over just yet.
A few years ago, the CMA opened an antitrust probe into Apple. The tech giant came under investigation over the market power of Safari and WebKit on devices like the best iPhones and iPads. The CMA slammed Apple’s requirement that all iOS browsing apps must use WebKit, saying that this “severely limits the potential for rival browsers to differentiate themselves” and gives Apple a free pass to not bother improving Safari. The CMA also had concerns about Apple’s restrictions against streaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia.
The EU came to the same conclusion about the WebKit issue and got Apple to drop this requirement – but only within the EU, mind you. In the UK, the investigation into Apple hasn’t wielded any results yet. In fact, the entire thing was dropped after the CMA fluffed its lines by missing a crucial legal deadline. There was also a legal debate that descended into a semantic argument over the words “study” and “shall.”
Google and the Play Store were also under the spotlight, although the investigation into the Big G has also been dropped now, like Apple.
This isn’t the end of things
It seems the CMA wants to pick things up again, after closing the probe due to a missed deadline and some legal semantics.
The UK is about to roll out the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which is essentially a copy-paste job of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). And guess what? This shiny new piece of legislation is going to give the CMA the powers it needs to come back with a vengeance over the WebKit issues and others.
So, while Apple might have dodged a bullet this time, it’s likely just a matter of months before they’re back in the CMA’s crosshairs. And given how things went in the EU, it’s quite likely that the CMA might come out on top this time.