The CMA’s Roadmap Doesn’t Open the Mobile App Ecosystem to Competition in the UK

We can’t bring the Epic Games Store to iOS in the UK this year (if ever), and Fortnite's return to iOS in the UK is now uncertain. 

The CMA, the UK competition regulator, is choosing not to prioritize opening the mobile ecosystem to alternative app stores this year in the roadmaps for Apple and Google that were released today. This is a missed opportunity to introduce competition into a currently-monopolized market and unlock economic growth and consumer choice. Four years after concluding that the App Store and Google Play Store are parallel monopolies the CMA has done nothing to allow competing stores.

A free market requires multiple stores competing to offer consumers the best prices and services. If you don’t have competing stores, the one store that is a state-sanctioned monopoly will use its control to extract all the value from the market at the expense of all creators who cannot compete, and consumers who can't choose the best deal among competing stores.

The signature accomplishment of the Digital Markets Act in the EU was introducing competition through alternative stores on iOS devices, leading to the launch of the AltStore, Aptoide and the Epic Games Store in Europe. But the CMA has deprioritized store competition entirely, to be considered sometime in 2026.

The CMA also made a vague announcement about allowing developers to steer customers to payment service outside of apps, without referencing the kinds of restrictions, obstructions and junk fees that Apple introduced in Europe to make a mockery of the Digital Markets Act. Unless Apple and Google are completely blocked from imposing fees and discriminating against apps using out-of-app payment, we can expect years of malicious compliance ahead, and no genuine restoration of market competition. The standard in this area has been set by the US court order, which concluded all such fees and obstructions are unlawful, and forced Apple to introduce real payment competition which has genuinely benefited customers of apps like Spotify, Amazon, Stripe, and Fortnite.

Today's bleak news from the United Kingdom contrasts to the stronger pro-competition actions of other regions. We will bring the Epic Games Store and Fortnite to Brazil and Japan later this year. We hope the CMA will use its consultation process to re-examine these weak roadmap decisions and bring the benefits of genuine app store and payments competition to British consumers.