The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking comments on competition in the Mobile App Ecosystem following President Biden’s Executive Order on Competition issued in 2021 and related to its work developing a report on the topic. Our comments suggest several of the questions posed by the agency but in general we seek to highlight:
- The continued innovation and competitiveness of the industry;
- The breadth of the market and the diversity of apps and app platforms;
- The intersection of mobile app market policy with other issues such as content moderation;
- The need for clearly defined and agreed upon terms and definitions;
- The threats to developers, consumers, and the marketplace if the government engages in a heavy-handed injection into the operation of the marketplaces;
- The importance of putting the interests of consumers ahead of corporations when looking at competition enforcement.