New Delhi, December 31, : , The Competition Commission of India ordered Friday a comprehensive antitrust investigation of Apple’s App Store business practices.This order was made at a moment when India’s watchdog is fighting with Google for its Play Store policies, which may hinder third-party apps developers.
Third-party apps stores cannot be listed in Apple’s App store as Apple has a developer agreement that prohibits developers from providing such services.The 20-page Apple order stated that these restrictions “foreclose the iOS app store market to potential app distributors.”
The CCI stated that the market in India for iOS app stores would be the most relevant for the investigation of Apple’s app store policies.
It is worth noting that Apple requires all paid content distributors to use its proprietary IAP.Apple also charges developers a commission up to 30% on any subscriptions purchased through this IAP.
Apple also prohibits developers of apps from telling users how they can purchase online.According to the CCI order, Apple forbids developers from including a link/button in their app that takes/steers the user to another payment solution than Apple’s IAP.”
This prima facie leads to denial of market accessibility for potential app distributors/appstore developers, in violation of the competition norms.”
Apple has yet to comment about the CCI Order.
Apple was subject to antitrust investigations from the US Federal Trade Commission and European Union (FTC), both regarding its policies in relation to app stores.
The CCI informed Karnataka High Court in the Google Play Store Investigation that no precipitative action will be taken.
Google filed an application in high court this week to extend its time for responding to antitrust investigations by the CCI amid the controversy over the Play Store Rules.
In October, the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), filed a request for interim relief in the CCI.
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