Japan to start antitrust probe on Apple and Google, says report
The Japanese government will start investigating Apple and Alphabet’s Google deal with
Japanese smartphone makers, which could lead to tightening antitrust
regulations, the Nikkei newspaper reported Sunday, without saying where it got
the information.
A government panel, which consists of officials, bureaucrats and
external experts, will kick off the discussion this month as Apple’s iOS and
Google’s Android software stands at more than 90 per cent of the Japanese smartphone
market, the paper said. The probe will include input from executives from
domestic smartphone handset makers as well as manufacturers of smart speakers
and personal computers.
The panel will evaluate business dealings in Japan and whether
they are conducted in a fair manner compared with cases overseas. The
government may step up antitrust regulations if the panel finds any issues from
the probe, the paper said.
Back in June 2020, Japan announced that
it will will join forces with the United States and Europe to take on any
market abuses by the four Big Tech companies. This
was perceived as a sign that Tokyo will join global efforts to regulate digital
platform operators.
“If the size of any merger or business-tie up is big, we can
launch an anti-monopoly investigation into the buyer’s process of acquiring a
start-up,” Kazuyuki Furuya, chairman of Japan's Fair Trade Commission, had told
Reuters back then. “We’re closely watching developments including in Europe.”
Japan was
perceived as laying the groundwork to regulate platform operators. Among them
are big tech giants dubbed “GAFA” —Google, Apple, Amazon AMZN.O and Facebook
FB.O — that face various antitrust probes in western nations.
Multi-national companies like
GAFA have similar business practices across the globe, which makes global
coordination crucial.
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