Apple has formally notified Australian authorities that it has “serious concerns” about the proposed App Store antitrust conclusions, while Google said they could cause “unintended harm”. Following a review of app store policies to consider legislation to open up these stores, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released a discussion paper on the subject.
The ACCC document was published in February, and while responses from Apple and Google were filed in early April, they are only now being publicly disclosed. Apple said it had its own “serious concerns about the implementation of the [proposed] regulatory reforms,” including how it believed the ACCC was trying to reform that didn’t exist.
Apple’s full document says: “In terms of actions attributable to Apple, [some] reforms are designed to address hypothetical (rather than existing) problems. Proposed ‘reforms’ related to Apple would lead to real-world markets As a result, if they are implemented in the proposed form, there will be less incentive for a dynamic company like Apple to innovate and develop new and differentiated products…”
The document further says that these reforms “will force Apple to redesign the iPhone ” in a way “ultimately beneficial only to… a handful of powerful developers whose primary goal is to remove [the app store] from consumers.” Protection. Apple is baffled that competition and consumer protection agencies are prioritizing so-called competition issues that lack compelling evidence of harm, rather than the clear and severe harm they experience every day to users. ”
Google’s filing said it supported the ACCC’s vision of protecting consumers while encouraging innovation. However, it agreed with Apple on how the proposal covers “actions that are only speculated to be theoretical possibilities.”
“Any new regulatory framework should only seek to address and prevent clear harm from lack of competition. Any new regulatory framework should only seek to address and prevent clear harm from lack of competition. Focus on addressing only those types of behaviors that can be shown to be clearly harmful and beyond the reach of existing laws.”
Epic Games has also submitted a document to the ACCC’s proposal, which it supports the regulator’s plans. Forcing Apple and Google to allow alternative app stores would lead to “a more open ecosystem with better choice and value for consumers and developers,” Epic said.
Microsoft also supports the ACCC in its own presentation paper. In its experience, Apple and Google’s policies “either completely prevent us from offering competitive cloud game streaming apps to mobile users, or restrict services such as the use of alternative payment processing systems for in-app purchases,” Microsoft said.
However, Australia’s not-for-profit Digital Industries Group (DiGi) believes the recommendations are unnecessary. DiGi, which lobbied on behalf of Apple, Google and others, said in its full submission that the proposals “would lack the depth, breadth and clarity to be properly comprehensive.”
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is expected to make recommendations to the government by the end of September 2022.