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Apple and Google won’t be able to stop third-party app stores in Japan

Japan has taken a leaf out of the EU’s regulatory book.

Following in the footsteps of the European Union, Japan has now passed a law that will restrict Apple and Google from blocking third-party app stores for Japanese users on their platforms. Dubbed the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software, Japan’s law shares some similarities with the EU’s Digital Markets Act(DMA), enforcing strict rules against “designated providers.” That includes requiring their platforms to allow third-party app stores, allowing app developers to offer third-party billing services, and making it easier for users to change their default settings and web browsers. Japan’s FTC said the changes were being introduced because it believes smartphone operating systems, app stores, browsers, and search engines are an “oligopoly market” that would take existing antimonopoly laws “a remarkably long time” to address.

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