⚖️ UK could highly regulate Apple and Google

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U.K. Regulator Targets Apple and Google’s Mobile Dominance

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has formally designated Apple and Google with strategic market status across their mobile platforms, including operating systems, app stores, browsers, and browser engines. The decision follows a year-long investigation and consultations with over 150 stakeholders. The CMA concluded that both companies hold “substantial, entrenched market power” and play a “strategically significant” role in the mobile ecosystem. The designation itself doesn’t allege wrongdoing but empowers the regulator to impose targeted interventions aimed at enhancing competition, transparency, and fairness for businesses that rely on Apple and Google to reach consumers.

A New Era of Platform Accountability

This move signals a major step in global regulatory alignment on Big Tech oversight, closely mirroring the EU’s Digital Markets Act. By labeling Apple and Google as gatekeepers, the CMA can now preemptively address potential anti-competitive conduct instead of reacting to it after harm occurs. The regulator found that mobile users rarely switch ecosystems once they’ve invested in one, a sign of “lock-in” that limits market mobility and innovation. Apple and Google’s pushback, citing privacy risks and delayed feature rollouts, highlights their long-running defence that regulation threatens user experience. But the CMA’s position is clear: dominance without checks risks stagnation, reduced consumer choice, and barriers for smaller innovators.

Cracks in the Walled Gardens

For startups, this designation could be the first real opening in years to challenge the mobile gatekeepers. The CMA’s new powers may lead to rules that make it easier for smaller developers to distribute apps outside of official stores, use third-party payment systems, or build browser alternatives. Founders should pay close attention to how these reforms unfold, particularly if they operate in app-based industries like fintech, mobility, or consumer AI. Now is the time to explore opportunities that could emerge from more open ecosystems: diversifying distribution channels, reducing dependency on Apple and Google APIs, and positioning products to benefit from new regulatory-driven interoperability. The landscape is shifting, and agile startups stand to gain the most.

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