UK probes Apple, Google competitiveness over mobiles

Britain on Thursday opened investigations into the competitiveness of technology used by US giants Apple and Google in mobile devices.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its "strategic market status" investigations would assess "mobile ecosystems" that include operating systems, app stores and browsers.

CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said "more competitive mobile ecosystems could foster new innovations and new opportunities across a range of services that millions of people use".


The regulator added in a statement that it would reach decisions on its investigations by the end of October.

It comes after the CMA last week launched an investigation into Google's dominant position in the search engine market and its impacts on consumers and businesses.

Britain's Labour government this week appointed a former top executive at online titan Amazon to be the CMA's interim chair, hoping the appointment will help drive economic growth.

While competition watchdogs around the world are heavily focused on probing technology giants, the UK government believes too much regulation is hampering economic expansion.

The appointment of Doug Gurr, former country manager of Amazon UK and president of Amazon China, to steer the CMA comes after his predecessor, Marcus Bokkerink, was reportedly ousted for not focussing enough on growth.