{"id":43699,"date":"2024-06-17T15:59:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T19:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=43699"},"modified":"2024-06-17T15:59:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T19:59:06","slug":"japan-passes-law-to-allow-app-marketplaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/17\/japan-passes-law-to-allow-app-marketplaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Passes Law to Allow App Marketplaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryohei Yasoshima and Riho Nagao<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Legislation slated to be sent to the parliament in 2024 would restrict moves by platform operators to keep users in the operators’ own ecosystems and shut out rivals, focusing mainly on four areas: app stores and payments, search, browsers, and operating systems.<\/p>

The plan is to allow the Japan Fair Trade Commission to impose fines for violations. If this is modeled on existing antitrust law, the penalties would generally amount to around 6% of revenue earned from the problematic activities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Kazuaki Nagata<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

A bill submitted by the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would compel the dominant platforms to allow third parties to launch their own app markets and to offer more payment options, while banning the technology giants from giving preferential treatment to their own products.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Hartley Charlton<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

New legislation in Japan<\/a> requires Apple to allow third-party app stores and payment providers on the iPhone.<\/p>

The Japanese parliament has passed the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software, a law that compels Apple to allow access to third-party app stores and payment providers on devices that run iOS. The legislation, which was passed by Japan’s upper house and will be enforced following Cabinet approval within the next eighteen months, seeks to curb the dominance of major tech firms like Apple in the smartphone market.<\/p>

The law requires Apple to make several significant changes to its business practices. The company will have to permit third-party app stores on its devices, just like it does in the EU. App developers will be allowed to use third-party payment services. There are also provisions to allow users to change default settings via new choice screens during setup, such as for selecting a default browser.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Penalties are 20–30% of Japanese revenue<\/a>. Japan is one of very few countries in the world where the iPhone’s market share exceeds that of Android phones<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The United States should treat this as a trade war, and reciprocate by passing legislation mandating third-party game stores and payments on game consoles from Sony and Nintendo. […] It’s patently hypocritical that Japan’s law targets only phones; this law wouldn’t exist if Sony were a player in phones and mobile platforms.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

As I’ve said<\/a>, I’m not persuaded<\/a> that the smartphone market is analogous to game consoles. It’s not hypocritical that phone companies and ISPs are regulated differently from, say, refrigerators and slot machines.<\/p>\n\n

Alan Crisp<\/a>:<\/p>\n

What percentage of the global economy’s business comms and app usage (outside China) is on Apple\/Android systems? 80%? 90%? 95%?<\/p>

For me it makes sense that the regulatory focus is on phones - this can have a great impact on innovation across all markets. The gaming console market, by comparison, has a far, far smaller impact on the lives of everyday commerce, and thus far less deserving of regulating those systems.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Imagine if AT&T banned you from calling certain phone numbers (App Store anti-steering provisions), or chose which kinds of telesales were allowed. With the landline being essential to business communications, left unchecked AT&T could have slowed innovation more generally in other areas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n