APPLE AND GOOGLE APP STORES GET THUMBS DOWN FROM WHITE HOUSE

The Biden administration is taking aim at Apple and Google for operating mobile app stores that it says stifle competition.

The finding is contained in a Commerce Department report being released by the administration as President Joe Biden convenes his competition council for an update on efforts to promote competition and lower prices.

The report from the department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration says the current app store model — dominated by Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc., and Mountain View, California-based Google LLC — is “harmful to consumers and developers” by inflating prices and reducing innovation. The firms have a stranglehold on the market that squelches competition, it adds.

“The policies that Apple and Google have in place in their own mobile app stores have created unnecessary barriers and costs for app developers, ranging from fees for access to functional restrictions that favor some apps over others” the report said.

In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in January, Biden called on Democrats and Republicans to rein in large tech firms without mentioning Apple or Google by name.