UK targets Apple, Google app store fees for developers

(AFP) —Britain’s competition regulator on Tuesday opened a consultation on a proposal that app developers be allowed to redirect users to payment methods outside of Apple and Google app stores.

The option, known as “steering,” is “banned by Apple and restricted by Google in the U.K.,” the Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement.

“Lifting these constraints would allow developers to bypass mandatory fees set by platforms,” the agency said, following a similar move taken by the European Union.

However, the authority suggested that Apple and Google should be able to charge for steering, as long as the fees “are fair and reasonable.”

The regulator said that developers’ financial savings could be passed onto customers or reinvested to support future innovation.

Google said in a statement that it had “already made the changes” proposed by the authority.

A spokesperson for Apple said steering requirements risked scams “and the circumvention of parental controls.”

“When users are directed away from Apple’s trusted payment infrastructure, they lose the protections they rely on Apple to provide,” the spokesperson added in a statement.

The agency said it was examining also the possibility of requiring Apple to open up access to the iPhone’s NFC contactless payment technology to third-party apps.

“Unblocking the restriction would enable U.K. fintechs and developers to support contactless transactions … from within their own” apps, the agency said.

It added that this “would help unlock innovation and competition by supporting future payment methods” such as digital currencies and identifications.

Since 2024, iPhone uses in the EU have access to contactless payment services that compete with Apple Pay, following a four-year investigation launched by the bloc.

—

By Agence France-Presse