UK regulator considers opening Apple, Google app stores to rival payments

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is reportedly considering forcing Apple and Google to allow third-party payment systems inside their respective app stores — a move that would directly threaten the commission-based revenue model that underpins a meaningful slice of both companies' Services (Apple) and Google Play (Alphabet) revenue lines. The CMA has been expanding its digital markets oversight under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, giving it new powers to designate platforms as having Strategic Market Status (SMS) and impose targeted remedies.

For Apple, Services revenue is the margin crown jewel — growing faster than hardware and carrying materially higher margins than the corporate average. App Store commissions (typically 15–30%) are a key component. Apple's gross margin sits at 46.9% and net at 26.9% on $416B revenue; any structural erosion to App Store take rates hits the highest-margin segment first. Alphabet faces a similar dynamic in Google Play, though Play is a smaller share of its $403B revenue base dominated by Search and Cloud.

The second-order risk is precedent: a CMA ruling requiring open payments would hand ammunition to the EU (already pursuing Apple under the Digital Markets Act) and could reinforce ongoing US DOJ and state-level App Store litigation. That makes this a regulatory overhang story, not a single-jurisdiction event.

The bull case rests on execution risk for regulators — these proceedings move slowly, Apple and Google have deep legal resources to delay and negotiate, and any final remedy is likely to be narrow or phased. Both companies have also proactively introduced alternative billing options in select markets to forestall harder mandates.

What to watch: formal CMA SMS designation timelines, whether Apple/Google receive provisional findings, and any read-across from the EU DMA compliance rulings expected in 2025. The story is early-stage regulatory process, not an imminent earnings event.