After European legislation forced Apple to allow third-party app stores in 27 countries, Japan plans to introduce a similar legal requirement. .
Antitrust legislation is currently being discussed in the Japanese Diet, but is expected to be approved by the end of June …
Third-party app stores Requirement
The European Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust law imposed a series of changes on companies that were deemed to be using their market dominance for anti-competitive purposes. Apple was one of the affected companies, ruling that its monopoly on selling iPhone apps was illegal.
The company was required to allow third-party app stores to sell iPhone apps, and still has done so. responded in a manner that has been described as “malicious consent”; and which is under investigation for possible non-compliance.
Japan is working on a similar law
The Japan Times reports that a similar law is currently being discussed in the Japanese Diet and would apply to both Apple and Google.
The bill introduced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration would force dominant platforms to allow third parties to launch their own app marketplaces and offer more payment options, while banning tech giants from offering preferential terms. attitude towards own products […]
The bill is currently being discussed in parliament and is likely to be approved by both houses during the current session, which ends next month.
Japanese developers argue that competition between app stores will allow them to retain more of the revenue generated from apps while also offering consumers lower prices.
9to5Mac Principles
This is just the latest example of a growing worldwide movement to increase competition in app sales and stop Apple and Google from giving their own apps an unfair advantage over third-party apps.
Apple is facing litigation before the US Department of Justice covering much the same ground, and faces similar investigations and legislation in a number of countries around the world. world.
We previously argued that the company was going to spend more and more time in courtrooms around the world trying to stave off the inevitable, and it would be better to just put its message out there and have faith in its customers.
Photo Soo Sang Lee on Unsplash
