News: Japan Enacts Regulatory Law Targeting Apple as well as Google Smartphone Marketplace Dominance -
Japan has become the latest nation to pass a law targeting companies such as Apple Inc. as well as Google LLC from limiting third-party firms that are seeking to market and distribute their own applications on Google as well as Apple devices.
According to Kyodo News, "The legislation will bar the makers of the Apple's iOS and Google's Android smartphones operating systems, app stores and payment platforms from preventing the sales of applications or services directly competing with native platform's." This is in order to keep the providers of platforms out of "gatekeeping" while also forcing more competition between their own apps as well as other applications on the platforms.
The current Japan antimonopoly law penalizes 6% of revenues earned via anticompetitive practices, the penalties in this new particular law amount to 20% on domestic revenues earned from services that are in violation of this law, increasing to 30% if problem practices are not discontinued.
The new law is expected to be in effect in 2025 and, according to Kyodo News points out is similar to one of the recently issued EU regulations (presumably it's the EU's Digital Markets Act).
Kyodo News also reports that both Apple as well as Google have issued announcements about their continued engagement in partnership with Japanese regulators.
A previous article in Kyodo News regarding the regulation which was passed first by Japan's Cabinet stated that it had voted to approve the law as "a step to challenge the duopoly exerted by two industry giants Apple Inc. and Google LLC," and that this regulation shows the Japanese government's intention to join with the EU by enacting further laws "of Big Tech firms such as Apple, Google and Amazon.com Inc. that have come to exert an enormous influence on digital services across the globe."
Other Reading
About
