Information: Japan Enacts Regulatory Law Targeting Apple and Google Smartphone Market Dominance
Japan is now the latest nation to pass a law targeting companies such as Apple Inc. as well as Google LLC from limiting third-party businesses that wish to market and distribute their own apps for Google as well as Apple devices.
According to Kyodo News, "The legislation will bar the makers of Apple's iOS as well as Google's Android smartphone operating systems, apps stores and payment platforms from preventing the sales of applications and services that directly compete against the native platforms' own." This is in order to keep the providers of platforms out of "gatekeeping" and also imposing greater competition between their own apps as well as other applications on the platforms.
Although Japan's current antimonopoly law provides fines of 6% on revenues gained by anticompetitive practice, penalties in this new particular law amount to 20% on the revenues earned from services that are in violation of this law. They will rise by 30% if problem practices are not discontinued.
The law is scheduled to be in effect by the end of 2025 and, according to Kyodo News points out is like one of recently issued EU regulations (presumably that of the EU's Digital Markets Act).
Kyodo News also reports that both Apple and Google released announcements concerning their continuing involvement to Japanese regulators.
An earlier article from Kyodo News regarding the regulation being first passed by Japan's Cabinet stated that it had voted to approve the regulation as "a move to contest the duopoly monopoly imposed by industry bigwigs Apple Inc. and Google LLC," and that this regulation shows the Japanese government's desire to align with the EU when it comes to enacting rules "of Big Tech firms such as Apple, Google and Amazon.com Inc., which are now able to exercise significant influence over digital services around the world."
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