Epic without brakes: after the Apple case, a new adventure against the Google Play Store begins

Talk about Play Store policies, are we at a paradigm shift?

The arguments of Epic Games you can’t count on big tech, for years the challenge against Apple has been at the forefront to the sound of lawsuits and counter-suits, which if it didn’t end well for Epic on a purely judicial level (all its complaints were quashed except for the practice ofanti-steering), has definitely contributed to increasing the debate and legislative and governmental interest in the excessive power of the companies that own the mobile stores, namely Apple itself and Google, which at least here in the West hold de facto monopolies on the app distribution market on mobile devices.

Having run out of ammunition against the Cupertino company, Epic has now turned, more aggressive than ever, against the Mountain View company, guilty of preventing the installation of third-party stores on Android devices, as well as blocking the introduction of circuits payment and billing services external to Google Pay. Things could change following the ongoing legal dispute, and it was Epic itself that suggested how.

Is there room for everyone in the mobile market?

Let’s return briefly to Apple vs Epic, or rather to its consequences, to understand how in recent months the de facto monopoly situation exercised by Apple is at a turning point, and could change significantly in the short term. The fact is that the American and European antitrust authorities – albeit with guilty delay – they realized that the concentration of all the economic power of very few players in the mobile market has generated market distortions and entry barriers that effectively made it impossible to create competition capable of playing on equal terms, thus ensuring benefits for consumers and the balance of the market itself. This is why the situation is changing in recent times: in the European Union the introduction of Digital Markets Act is forcing many technology multinationals to adapt to rules more favorable to the principles of free competition, and for Apple this particularly concerned the management of app distribution in iOS.

After having to reluctantly comply with the court ruling that required it to allow app developers to offer users direct links to stores and/or payment platforms external to the App Store, Apple also had to surrender to the impositions of the DMA, effectively opening the possibility of the presence of third-party stores in iOS; not only that, starting from the next few months it should be possible for developers to distribute their iOS apps directly via their websites, therefore without going through the App Store. Undoubtedly a good step forward on the free competition front. But if those rules apply strictly to Apple, Google couldn’t expect to escape for longin fact the eyes of justice are now focused on her.

Epic dictates the rules to Google!

Google is currently a defendant in a trial for abuse of a dominant position and violation of free competition rules in the United States, brought by Epic, while it has to defend itself in two other trials brought directly by the US antitrust regarding its management policy ads and abuse of the search engine’s dominant position. In short, it is certainly not doing well and it is only a matter of time before it capitulates and gives up at least part of its prerogatives. The curious thing is that Epic itself suggests how it should do it. Tim Sweeny’s company has in fact filed a series of proposals in San Francisco District Court regarding openness policies that Google should adopt regarding the Play Store. In a nutshell, they suggest that Google be prevented from:

• Impose limits or preconditions of any kind on the presence of third-party stores on Android systems
• Imposing exclusivity conditions related to the publication of apps on the Play Store
• Imposing price differences depending on the geographical area, favoring some countries over others.
• Block access of third-party apps to integrated functions of Android systems such as geolocation or others.

Finally, for a period of 6 years there should be third-party store clients directly on the Play Store. Google has until May 3rd to respond to these proposals, after which the judge will have to evaluate the issue and establish the final solution.