Unlocking the UK's Mobile App Economy
The Coalition for App Fairness welcomes the United Kingdom’s efforts to improve gatekeeper platforms.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (DMCC) is important legislation that will help create a fair and open mobile app ecosystem that will benefit UK consumers and developers.
This legislation will allow the UK’s Digital Markets Unit (DMU) to effectively promote competition, protect consumers, and boost the international growth of UK-born businesses, free from the anticompetitive app store policies which Apple and Google currently impose on these businesses.
A fully-empowered DMU is necessary to foster a mobile app ecosystem where every app developer in the UK has an equal opportunity to compete, innovate, and engage with consumers.
Implications of App Store Policies on UK Businesses
CAF member Kelli Fairbrother, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the UK-based audiobook app xigxag, joined Ian King of Sky News to discuss how Apple and Google leverage their significant market power, harming small businesses like hers. Fairbrother talked with King about standing up to Big Tech gatekeepers and why passage of the DMCC is so crucial to the success of the DMU’s efforts to combat anticompetitive app store practices that negatively affect all UK developers.
bottom line
Every app developer, regardless of their size or the nature of their business, is entitled to fair treatment by these app stores and the platform owners who operate them. As United Kingdom and international policymakers seek to address these important issues, CAF urges them to enforce clear and fair rules in the digital market to the benefit of app developers and consumers.