Not big in Japan: Apple's WebKit browser requirement may break new law

Apple now faces challenges to its WebKit browser requirement in three jurisdictions, as authorities around the globe try to jumpstart competition in the mobile software industry.

Japan last week published legal guidance for its recent smartphone competition law, the Mobile Software Competition Act, indicating that restrictions like Apple's WebKit mandate for browsing apps will not be allowed.

Apple's requirement, spelled out in section 2.5.6 of its App Store Review Guidelines, states, "Apps that browse the web must use the appropriate WebKit framework and WebKit JavaScript."

WebKit is a browser engine, similar to the Blink engine used for Chromium browsers and the Gecko engine used in Mozilla's Firefox browser. Each engine implements web standards and APIs that allow the browser to render web pages, but they have differences in terms of performance, security, and supported features.

Apple's restriction has been a sore spot for web ...