Recently, Mozilla has taken a stand against Apple, Google, and Microsoft for setting technical requirements that have hindered the development of its Firefox web browser, thus impacting competition. Despite engaging in dialog with platform vendors for years, Mozilla has seen its global browser market share slip to just over three percent, largely due to platform rules and relentless marketing.
With the pending March 6 compliance deadline for Europe’s Digital Markets Act approaching, Mozilla has decided to publicly address the issues it faces. The development group has detailed its concerns in a summary dashboard and GitHub issue tracker, highlighting the technical barriers imposed by rival browser makers that put Firefox at a competitive disadvantage.
At the forefront of Mozilla’s concerns is Rule 2.5.6 of the Apple App Store Review Guidelines, which mandates that all browsers on iOS use Apple’s WebKit rendering engine. This requirement essentially makes all iOS browsers Apple’s WebKit under the hood, posing challenges for developers to differentiate their products.
The lack of browser competition and differentiation on Apple’s iOS has been a point of contention for Mozilla and Google, which drives the development of the Chromium browser engine. Notably, this issue has been under investigation by regulators in the UK and Europe.
As Mozilla continues to advocate for a level playing field in the browser market, the renewed public attention and evolving regulatory environment have prompted the organization to publish its concerns transparently, using the same process and tools it employs to develop positions on emerging technical standards.
