Debate over the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA, S. 2992/H.R. 3816) and the Open App Markets Act (OAMA, S. 2710/H.R. 7030), two antitrust bills pending in Congress, is heating up. We oppose the bills in part because of the effect they’d have on consumer trust in the app stores—which, in turn, would disproportionately hurt smaller developers. We conducted some polling in key states to test how consumers feel about this too, and the results corroborate what our member companies are saying.
Specifically, the poll indicates that consumers are generally concerned about the security of their personal data and malware when they download an app from a lesser-known developer, and that number increases if app store protections go away. For example, 49 percent of Arizonans polled say they are “very concerned” about malware being unknowingly installed on their devices when downloading an app made by a lesser-known small business. But that number jumps to 66 percent—a 17-point increase—while the total number of “concerned” respondents increases to 91 percent, if app store security and safety protections go away.
The findings here illustrate vividly how consumers really feel about legislation to prohibit enforceable app store management by platforms. Even though it is pretty difficult to download malware unknowingly onto a smartphone—unless sideloading is enabled on an Android device—49 percent of consumers are “very concerned” about it happening to them when downloading an app from a company with which they’re unfamiliar. This is the uphill battle our member companies face every day, which the app stores help them fight. Tying one of their hands behind their back by removing app store protections for consumers worsens small developers’ odds, as reflected by that 17-percentage point increase in “very concerned.”
Other polls are a lot less illuminating. Proponents of the bills conducted a poll characterizing OAMA as “forcing Apple and Google to compete” and giving “consumers more flexibility to download apps of their choice.” Given that description, of course 77 to 81 percent of respondents said they support it. The question prompt implies Google and Apple don’t compete, setting the stage for the pollsters to suggest that Congress should do something to create competition. Google and Apple already compete with each other on app distribution, and that’s not just a casual observation, a federal court has ruled on it. So, the description of the bill is misleading, calling into question the poll’s results.
But the poll also says nothing about how consumers would change their behavior or how they feel about the changes the bill would bring about. Understanding how consumers view the bills’ removal of app store management provides a much more meaningful understanding of how voters will respond to the bills’ enactment; what the consequences would be for the smallest developers; and whether voters will punish members of Congress for messing with their phones.