Market Power in the App industry

The App Industry is dominated by two large players: Apple and Google. Recently, the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust in the US declared that Apple enjoyed monopoly power in the app distribution
business (i.e. the App Store), creating barriers to competition. Many developers also complain about Apple and
Google abuse of market power (for examples, Epic Games and in-app purchases). Should the App Industry be more competitive? What would be the implications for Apple, Google, the consumers, and the developers?
To answer this question, you should draw upon both theory (which could be Vertical Mergers and/or Entry Deterrence, I have attached the relevant “theory” slides) and empirical evidence from the Industrial
Organisation literature (academic papers). Feel free to divide the text into sections if that helps the exposition.
Include page numbers. All figures and Tables must be labelled (for example, Table 2: Summary Statistics and
Figure 4: Scatter Plot of Innovation on Competition). All tables and figures should be explained in the text and
located close to where they are referred to. Never put a page break in a table or figure, and never separate a
table/figure from its title.