Amy Klobuchar said Apple, Google can exclude or suppress apps that compete with their own products .
A panel of U.S. senators questioned officials from Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc s Google on Wednesday about the dominance of their mobile app stores and whether the companies abuse their power at the expense of smaller competitors.
Amy Klobuchar, the top Senate Democrat on antitrust issues, said Apple and Google can use their power to exclude or suppress apps that compete with their own products and charge excessive fees that affect competition.
App makers like music streaming service Spotify Technology SA and dating services giant Match Group, which owns the Tinder app, have long complained that mandatory revenue sharing for sales of digital goods and strict inclusion rules set by Apple s App Store for iPhones and iPads, along with Google s Play store for Android devices, amount to anticompetitive behavior.
US lawmakers question Apple, Google on app store dominance
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US lawmakers question Apple, Google on app store dominance
Reuters / Apr 22, 2021, 08:34 IST
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WASHINGTON: A panel of US senators questioned officials from Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc s Google on Wednesday about the dominance of their mobile app stores and whether the companies abuse their power at the expense of smaller competitors.
Amy Klobuchar, the top Senate Democrat on antitrust issues, said Apple and Google can use their power to exclude or suppress apps that compete with their own products and charge excessive fees that affect competition.
App makers like music streaming service Spotify Technology SA and dating services giant Match Group, which owns the Tinder app, have long complained that mandatory revenue sharing for sales of digital goods and strict inclusion rules set by Apple s App Store for iPhones and iPads, along with Google s Play store for Android devices
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Apple, Google Questioned by US Senators on App Store Dominance During Antitrust Hearing
Representatives for Apple and Google said that the companies tight control over their stores and revenue-sharing requirements are necessary. By Reuters | Updated: 22 April 2021 12:24 IST
Representatives for Apple told senators the company s tight control over App Store was needed
Highlights
Apple blocked a safety update to the Tinder app
Apple said its AirTag trackers were an outgrowth of its FindMy app
A panel of US senators questioned officials from Apple and Alphabet s Google on Wednesday about the dominance of their mobile app stores and whether the companies abuse their power at the expense of smaller competitors.
SALT LAKE CITY Apple and Google were back on the congressional hot seat Wednesday to respond to allegations that both companies operate their smartphone app stores in ways that suppress competition and help the U.S. tech behemoths reap billions in profits.
Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, which hosted the hearing to examine app store competition said the issues are critical to Americans who increasingly manage their lives on their mobile phones. For better or for worse our smartphones have come to dominate our social and economic lives and apps are increasingly becoming the most popular ways to use those devices, Lee said. The power that Google, Apple and a few other large tech companies hold over the way Americans live their lives is itself simply unprecedented.