Sahra Barhoumi was honored by Goldmedia for her master’s thesis, “An Epic Battle against Google and Apple: Mobile Ecosystem Self-Preferencing and its Welfare Effects,” which she wrote in 2025 at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.

Drawing on the legal dispute between app developer Epic Games and Google and Apple, the thesis examines a central question in competition economics: What are the effects of Google and Apple’s self-preferencing in app distribution and in-app purchases on developers, alternative app stores, and consumers?

The theoretical and empirical-descriptive analysis shows that, in particular, the 30 percent commission fee and the requirement to use their own payment systems are associated with negative effects on competition and welfare. A key finding concerns the comparison of the two ecosystems: Google’s measures, which make it difficult to distribute apps outside the Google Play Store, have a more negative impact than Apple’s blanket ban on app distribution outside its own App Store—despite the formally open nature of the Android ecosystem.

DICE warmly congratulates Sahra Barhoumi on this award!