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

Can't wait till we all have this.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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.

The company is currently also working on bringing those services back to iOS in the EU “later this year,” following a hiccup where Apple banned (and then unbanned) its developer account.

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.

“The Japanese government made a number of changes to the legislation that will help protect user privacy, data security, innovation, and our intellectual property,” Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz said to The Verge.

“We will continue our engagement with the JFTC during the implementation period as we remain concerned about how the law will impact Japanese consumers and the secure and private iPhone experience our users have come to expect.”

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