Lo and behold, Amazon and Google announced they’ll scrap those penalties, although with Amazon, the shakedown will be retained until well into 2025. Google and Apple, which have the phone business stitched up between them, also announced some of their first changes. We can expect to see less of their own products, and more of other people’s.
At the heart of regulatory concerns about the power of big platforms is their conflicting role as both the marketplace landlord, but also the owner of the most important stalls at the market. Google began life with the noble intention that you spend as little time on the site as possible. If you were there at all, the founders reasoned, it was only to go somewhere else.
But Google then developed maps, email, shopping and video services it became more difficult to see any alternatives – and the incentive to build a better mousetrap diminished. Google gradually began to resemble the walled-garden services like Compuserve and Prestel, that existed before the internet took off.
Similar qualms about preferential treatment have often been raised about supermarkets. But regulators, quite correctly, have concluded that the supermarket business is highly competitive. With big tech, however, switching platforms is much harder than dropping into Sainsbury’s rather than Tesco at the weekend.
The platforms have extended their reach into every corner of our lives. I fully expect to be paying a fee to Microsoft for the rest of my working life, and to Apple for as long as I wish to access my photos conveniently. It all adds up. Very few people switch between phone platforms, either, as it isn’t worth the hassle. We’ve been bound in a gilded cage.
The same is becoming apparent for businesses. Utility computing is now dominated by Microsoft and Amazon and enmeshed with their other services, and perhaps soon AI too. So the question then arises, are these companies doing the very hardest they can in each product category? Are they fair marketplaces?
The European Commission last week imposed a fine of €1.8bn on Apple for the restrictions it put on Spotify, with which it competes. Smaller cloud providers argue Microsoft charges them punitive fees for Office, which makes fair competition impossible.
Tyler Fields is your internet guru, delving into the latest trends, developments, and issues shaping the online world. With a focus on internet culture, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies, Tyler keeps readers informed about the dynamic landscape of the internet and its impact on our digital lives.
