UK competition probe of mobile browsers finds Apple-Google duopoly is ‘anti-innovation’

A U.K. competition authority investigation of Apple and Google’s mobile browsers has concluded that the mobile duopoly’s policies are “holding back innovation” and could also be limiting economic growth. “Mobile browsers are apps which provide the primary gateway for consumers to access the web on their mobile devices, and hence for businesses to reach them with their content and products. The issues we have identified mean that consumers could be missing out on new features when using mobile browsers; and businesses are limited in their ability to reach consumers through browser apps,” runs a summary of the 611-page final decision report published on Wednesday. Most of the concerns identified relate to “Apple’s policies that determine how mobile browsers, the way we access the web on mobiles, work on Apple’s devices,” per a press release. These include issues such as Apple mandating the use of its WebKit browser engine for other browsers on iOS, which limits their ability to differ ... Read full article.