Apple should be required to let iPhone users sideload apps, Biden admin says
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The Biden administration wants major changes to the Apple and Google mobile app models, saying the companies "act as gatekeepers over the apps that people and businesses rely on" and enforce policies that "have the potential to harm consumers by inflating prices and reducing innovation."
An analysis of the market and recommendations for lawmakers and regulators were issued today in a report by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The report was required by President Biden's 2021 executive order on competition and touted by the White House today as being part of "new progress on his competition agenda."
The NTIA concluded that "consumers largely can't get apps outside of the app store model, controlled by Apple and Google," and that "Apple and Google create hurdles for developers to compete for consumers by imposing technical limits, such as restricting how apps can function or requiring developers to go through slow and opaque review processes."