Google and Apple currently dominate the licensable and non-licensable mobile OS market respectively. There are serious concerns that the dominant players are abusing their market power through anti-competitive practices. One such practice that has received a lot of attention in the recent past is the imposition of large commissions on in-app purchases and restricting developer choice in payment systems.
Realising the impact this could have on the innovation potential of the app economy, many anti-trust authorities and governments in various countries have been trying to stop such practices. These include the South Korean law barring app store operators from forcing the use of app stores’ proprietary billing system, the Dutch antitrust authority’s ruling calling Apple’s policy anti-competitive and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s interim report findings which highlight how users and developers are getting adversely impacted because of Apple and Google’s duopoly. Investigations are currently ongoing at the Competition Commission of India as well.
It is in this context that Alliance for Digital India Foundation (ADIF), in partnership with Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) are holding a panel discussion on the issue of app store regulation. The goal of this discussion is to deepen our understanding of the issue, assess the concerns of developers, and determine if there is a need for government intervention, and if so, how.
To drive the conversation, there will be an esteemed panel of experts who have been at the forefront of these discussions:
- Dr. Vikas Kathuria (Associate Professor, BML Munjal University Law School | Affiliated Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition)
- Hannah Rickets (Deputy Director, Coalition for App Fairness)
- Jai Vipra (Senior Resident Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy)
- Mark Buse (SVP, Head of Global Government Relations & Policy at Match Group)
- Sijo Kuruvilla George (Executive Director, ADIF)
The panel will be moderated by Rohit Kumar, Founding Partner, The Quantum Hub
Date: 23rd February, 2022; 6 PM (IST)
Registration link: bit.ly/ADIFxPanel
Contact: amanat@adif.in
The joining link will be shared with all registered participants via email, closer to the date of the panel discussion.
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