UK investigation says Apple and Google are ‘holding back’ mobile browsers

The United Kingdom’s mobile browser market is “not working well for consumers and businesses” according to a final report from Britain’s competition watchdog, which says that Apple and Google are largely to blame. An independent inquiry group has concluded its mobile browsers investigation for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), identifying Apple’s policies around iOS, Safari, and WebKit as making it difficult for third-party web browser providers to compete and restricting the market as a result. Google’s Android mobile ecosystem is also complicit in impeding competition, according to the CMA report, albeit to a lesser extent. The issues flagged by the investigation include Apple requiring all browsers on iOS to run on its WebKit browser engine, giving Safari preferential access to features compared to competing WebKit-based browsers, limitations placed on in-app browsing, and having Safari pre-installed and prominently displayed as the default browser on iPhones. While use ... Read full article.