A major digital market regulation in the European Union appears to be shaking up competition in the mobile browser market.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) has been in force for just over a month, but there are early signs that the law is having an impact by requiring mobile phone manufacturers to show users a browser selection screen. there is.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported on growth data shared by Cyprus-based web browser Aloha and others, suggesting the new law will stir up competitiveness and allow smaller browser makers to gain market share, or at least receive more attention than before. He said this suggests that it is helping to collect information.
However, the implementation of DMA is still in its early stages, the rollout of the selection screen is still in progress, and many EU users have not yet seen it. On March 7th, he announced that Aloha is not the only browser that has reported increased interest since the DMA compliance deadline began. Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi are also sharing positive stories of increased interest, but several other browsers, including DuckDuckGo and Firefox, say it's too early. so that they can assess the effectiveness of regulations.
In addition to Apple and Google, TechCrunch also questioned 16 alternative browser makers to inform them of the report's findings. We also contacted the European Commission to ask about its own tracking of his DMA's impact in this area, but it refused to share any data.
Neither Apple nor Google responded to questions about whether regional usage of their browsers has changed since the selection screen began appearing to mobile users.
Selection screen selection
The EU's goal for the DMA is to increase competition with internet “gatekeepers” whose control over dominant platforms provides many operational advantages over smaller rivals. The regulation does this through a list of “do's and don'ts” that tech giants must adhere to. In the case of browsers, it would require iOS manufacturers such as Apple and Google's Android to display a browser selection screen, forcing users to see alternatives to Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome.
Choice screens aim to counter platform dominance and selfish defaults by alerting consumers that they have other options. But promoting competition on the selection screen requires users to decide to switch to an alternative app. Screen design is also important.
Some alternative browser makers continue to be concerned that the selection screen design is not where it needs to be. We suspect this may be making some vulnerable groups reluctant to share early impact data, especially as the EU is currently investigating possible violations of Apple's selection screen design. thinking.
In other words, some browser makers may be playing a waiting game, hoping to prompt commission enforcement officials to implement strong implementation. At the same time, some very small browser players are turning to good old advertising – sending out press releases touting early interest, for example – as a tactic to increase their visibility to drive more downloads. You may be thinking that you can make a lot of money. Increased awareness.
Overall, it's still too early. Mobile users in many regions may have never seen a selection screen appear on their phones. Google, for example, says that newly released Android devices have a screen, but for existing Android devices, it's up to the device manufacturer to push the selection screen to users. As a result, Android does not have a clear implementation schedule.
Meanwhile, in the case of iOS, Apple says that starting with iOS 17.4, it has been showing iOS users a selection screen. However, users who haven't updated to this version still won't see anything.
Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox browser, said it estimates less than a fifth of iOS users have ever seen the selection screen. Even fewer Android users have likely seen this in action.
With this patchy Android rollout in mind, so far more iOS users have seen the selection screen than Android users, even if Google's platform has a larger regional market share. It is highly likely that
Measuring the impact of DMA on the market share of alternative browsers is further complicated by the different apps that mobile users see in different EU countries. Some alternatives, such as Firefox, may appear on the iOS selection screen in all EU markets. whereas others are much more limited. For example, Vivaldi can only be published in eight countries. Therefore, exposure to potential users can vary significantly between browsers. (Apple lists the options currently available in each market here.)
Are Alt browsers on the rise?
Aloha, a browser that values privacy and claims it doesn't track users, says it has seen a 250% increase in new users (and therefore app downloads) since the DMA went into effect last month. It is reported that there are around 10 million monthly active users worldwide, of which around 1 million are estimated to be within the EU. Therefore, it remains a very small player.
However, Aloha said it does not collect any personal data, including location data, so it cannot know exactly where users are. Still, he told Reuters that the EU has been promoted from the fourth-largest market to the second-largest market since the DMA compliance deadline began.
Aloha also claimed that the number of users in the US has increased since the DMA went into effect, but since this regulation does not apply to the US market, US users will not be able to comply with this regulation in their browser selection screen. I haven't encountered it. Aloha told TechCrunch that he believes privacy awareness is increasing overall, but that the increase in new installs in the EU may be contributing to the app's position in the U.S. App Store. suggested.
Meanwhile, Norway-based Opera also claims to have increased its market share since the DMA began intervening on March 7. According to new metrics shared with TechCrunch on Wednesday, Opera said its new user growth rate was 63% from February to the end of March. We've seen a huge increase in the number of people who are downloading and trying Opera.
It also reported that between March 3 and April 4, there was a 39% increase in iOS users specifically choosing iOS browsers as their default.
Previously (as of March 18), Opera reported a 164% increase in new EU user traffic to iOS following Apple's deadline to implement the DMA forced selection screen. So it looks like we've actually seen a decline in the growth rate over this period, after the initial big spike in interest.
In any case, Opera seems to be very happy to be receiving more interest than ever before. Jørgen Arnesen, vice president of mobile, said in a statement that DMA is “working to level the playing field,” adding: To be respected. ”
Another browser maker that has had a positive experience since the DMA compliance date is Vivaldi, also developed in Norway.
He told TechCrunch that since the iOS selection screen went into effect, the number of downloads (total) in the EU has increased by 36.7%. But if you look at his eight markets where Vivaldi actually appears on the iOS selection screen, the increase in downloads is even bigger. In these markets, the company said it has seen a 69.6% increase in downloads since users began seeing the selection screen.
Despite this increase in downloads, Vivaldi is unhappy with the current design of Apple's selection screen.
“There are serious flaws in the implementation, including when it will be displayed and what will be displayed,” a company spokesperson said. “Users can only see a selection screen when they click in Safari. The browser's list does not display additional information and therefore does not help users make meaningful choices. If a browser is selected, the selection screen may actively try to steer the user away from that browser, and the browser may not be included in the list the user sees.
“We believe that cross-platform browsers should be prioritized so that users can use the same browser on all of their devices,” she added. “Apple looks very narrowly on a platform-by-platform, country-by-country basis. We believe that the major browser choices should be visible, but in reality they aren't. And we all should be on the list of countries.”
I also heard positive opinions from Brave. The US-based privacy-focused browser said it has seen a “significant increase” in installations since the DMA came into effect. (However, we did not provide a breakdown of total usage in the EU, as we do not report the number of users by region.)
“With the new browser panel this March, daily installations of Brave on iOS in the EU increased from approximately 7,500 to 11,000,” a company spokesperson said. “Over the past few days, we have seen a record spike in daily installs to 14,000, almost double the number of screens we had pre-selected.”
“In terms of retention, users who select Brave from the DMA screen are retained at or above our average,” he adds, adding that the overall increase in interest is due to “users wanting choice.” It confirms that,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, three other alternative browsers we asked, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and Firefox, suggested it was too early to tell whether DMA would help them.
DuckDuckGo, the privacy-minded veteran browser maker, declined to share any data, saying it was too early to draw any meaningful conclusions.
“While there are some bright spots, the rollout of selection screens is ongoing, and for competitors like us, which see billions of monthly searches and millions of downloads, “More time is needed to conduct a full impact assessment,” the company said. In a statement.
DuckDuckGo also said it lacked access to “key information” to assess the impact of DMA, including no way to know how many people looked at the search engine or browser selection screen. Stated.
“This is important because it helps us understand the selection rate and breadth of deployment on the selection screen,” he said, adding, “We are at the beginning of this journey, not the end.”
Another alternative company, Ecosia, a nonprofit focused on tree-planting and eco-activism, also told us it doesn't have enough data to accurately assess the impact of the regulations. “As we have not received selection rates or other meaningful data sets, it is difficult to report with certainty on the effectiveness of the selection screens at this stage,” said Sophie Deng, Director of Public Policy and Climate Action. Binsky said.
He emphasized that Ecosia is not satisfied with the current iOS selection screen and believes it is hindering its potential growth, and also that the European Commission, which is investigating Apple's implementation, He also pointed out unsolved cases.
“Ecosia has jumped to second and third place in some European markets for utility apps in the Apple App Store, but search numbers have remained largely unchanged,” she said. “This is due to some design issues within Apple's choice screen, such as showing the choice screen to users who have already selected an alternative to Safari. Due to a very complex installation process. , many users will lose the Safari browser app in its optimal position on the home screen.''
Firefox, another veteran browser player, is also a total no-no when it comes to assessing early impact.
Mozilla says, “We have serious concerns about the current selection screen, and we estimate that less than 20% of iOS users have ever been exposed to a selection screen, and Google estimates that it's probably even less.'' We have not made any specific numbers public.” Khush Amrani, Global Competition and Regulation Advisor.
“The DMA represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create competition and choice for EU consumers. Whether that potential is realized depends on gatekeeper compliance and European Commission enforcement.” emphasized, and also referred to the European Commission's investigation into alleged non-compliance by gatekeepers.
Amrani said, “While we've seen thousands of people choose Firefox on the selection screen, there are serious flaws in the iOS selection screen that prevent people from making a true choice. I don't think we should turn away from the facts,” he added. “The key challenge is that powerful and well-funded gatekeepers are incentivized to protect the existing closed ecosystem and fight the introduction of competitive DMAs.”
TechCrunch reached out to browser makers that could benefit from the DMA selection screen and received one report that there has been no meaningful impact since the requirement was implemented. Yandex, a Russia-based browser that can appear on the iOS selection screen anywhere in the EU, told us. So far, there has been no meaningful change in user metrics in the region.
In the case of Yandex, the indifference to switching may be related to consumer concerns about using or supporting software developed in Russia in light of the Ukraine war.