EU Antitrust Watchdog Raise Concerns Overs Alexa, Siri, Google's Voice Assistant Dominance: Reuters

The European Commission red-flagged Amazon.com Inc's AMZN Alexa, Apple Inc's AAPL Siri, and Alphabet Inc's GOOG GOOGL Google Assistant over possible anticompetitive practices after a year-long inquiry into voice assistants, other internet-connected devices and responses from over 200 companies, Reuters reported.
Statista estimates Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant global market to double to 8.4 billion devices between 2020 and 2024.
Further determination will be made after a 12-week long public consultation ending Sept. 1 and a final report due in the first half of 2022.
The EU antitrust watchdog's inquiries revealed concerns regarding certain exclusivity and tying practices related to voice assistants, self-promotion by voice assistant providers via default settings, data retention, and lack of device interoperability.
Amazon defended, citing Alexa's compatibility with over 140,000 smart home products and its Voice Interoperability Initiative agreements with 80 companies.
The Commission has proposed new rules under the Digital Markets Act to address the concerns. The Act is likely to be implemented by 2022.
Price action: AMZN shares traded higher by 0.55% at $3,282.01 on the last check Wednesday.