The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has announced it will examine the experiences of consumers, developers, suppliers and others in a new report scrutinising mobile app stores. Issues to be examined include the use and sharing of data by apps, the extent of competition between Google and Apple’s app stores, and whether more pricing transparency is needed in Australia’s mobile apps market.
Consumers can share their experiences with buying and using apps through a short survey. The ACCC has also released an issues paper seeking views and feedback from app developers and suppliers.
The project is part of a 5-year ACCC inquiry which is designed to produce reports every six months examining markets for the supply of digital platform services in Australia.
"We want to know more about the market for mobile apps in Australia, including how transparent and effective the market is, for consumers as well as those operating in the market. We will also focus on the extent of competition between the major online app stores, and how they compete for app sales with other app providers”, the ACCC said. “We are also interested in how data is used and shared in the app ecosystem, including the data available to Google and Apple as a result of their control of the major app stores," the ACCC added.
While there are various app stores or marketplaces in Australia, app sales are dominated by the Apple App Store for iOS, and the Google Play Store for Android devices, the ACCC noted.
Submissions close on 2 October. The final report is scheduled for release in March 2021.
