At any given moment, when a British Spotify listener wants to subscribe to a music streaming service, they cannot do so through their iPhone app. Instead, they must leave their phone, open a laptop, and sign up through a website — a deliberate detour engineered not by Spotify but by Apple's fee structure. That friction, multiplied across millions of users and thousands of apps, is precisely what the UK's Competition and Markets Authority is now moving to dismantle. The CMA has formally challenged what it calls an "effective duopoly" held by Apple and Google over mobile platforms, noting that at least 90% of UK mobile devices run on one of their two operating systems.

The watchdog is consulting on rules that would allow app developers to "steer" users — that is, to direct them toward external websites where purchases can be completed without passing through Apple's App Store or Google's Play Store. Both companies currently charge commissions of up to 30% on transactions made within apps, a levy that critics argue is passed directly to consumers through higher prices. The significance of the proposed change reaches well beyond Britain. Will Hayter, the CMA's executive director for digital markets, argued that introducing competitive pressure into this part of the mobile ecosystem is "the best way" to address a market that is "sorely lacking" it.

Google has already said it implemented the required changes, including permitting apps to redirect users to alternative payment methods.