READY PLAYER ONE. Australia has fully engaged in the battle royale over apps. Trustbusters Down Under warned on Wednesday that regulation may be needed read more to address the dominance of Apple’s (AAPL.O) App Store and Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google Play Store. In an interim report, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommended, among other things, that smartphone users be allowed to remove and replace pre-installed apps. It also said app stores should not restrict consumers from learning about alternative payment options. The news comes barely a week ahead of “Fortnite” parent Epic Games getting its day in court over related allegations that Apple’s App Store is anticompetitive. Although the ACCC’s recommendations won’t directly impact that U.S. lawsuit, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the agency support Epic’s similar claims in Australia. Apple’s highly profitable services business, which includes app downloads, is increasingly important read more for the $2.3 trillion company, whose latest earnings are due out later on Wednesday. The mounting scrutiny could prove harder to defend. (By Jeffrey Goldfarb)