Apple argues UK competition watchdog had ‘no power’ to launch browser probe

Apple n Friday told a London tribunal that the UK’s competition watchdog had “no power” to launch a probe into its Safari mobile browser because it did so too late.

Sam Tobin for Reuters:

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a full investigation in November into cloud gaming and mobile browsers over concerns about restrictions by iPhone-maker Apple, as well as by Google.
Apple filed an appeal in January at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London and argues the investigation is “invalid”.
Its lawyer Timothy Otty said on Friday that the market investigation should by law have been opened last June at the same time as the CMA published a report on mobile ecosystems, which found the two tech giants had an “effective duopoly”.
He added in court filings that Apple has “suffered serious prejudice” as a result of the CMA’s decision, having “had to repeatedly divert management time and technical resources away from its business activities”.
However, the CMA’s lawyer James Eadie said the watchdog had complied with the legal time limits, because it initially decided not to open an investigation in December 2021.

MacDailyNews Note: Also today, the CMA said it needs more time to review Apple’s alleged App Store monopoly.
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