India antitrust probe finds Apple abused position in apps market
India latest in growing antitrust scrutiny of Apple globally
India investigation says Apple policies hurt developers
Apple has argued it is too small a player in India
Company can argue against India findings in coming weeks
By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI, July 12 (Reuters) -An investigation by India's antitrust body has found that Appleexploited its dominant position in the market for app stores on its iOS operating system, engaging "in abusive conduct and practices", a confidential report seen by Reuters showed.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been investigating Apple Inc AAPL.O since 2021 for possibly abusing its dominant position in the apps market by forcing developers to use its proprietary in-app purchase system.
Apple has denied wrongdoing saying it was a small player in India where phones that use Google's Android system are dominant.
The CCI's investigations unit, in its 142-page report which is not public but was seen by Reuters, said Apple wields "significant influence" over how digital products and services reach consumers, especially through its iOS platform and App Store.
"Apple App Store is an unavoidable trading partner for app developers, and resultantly, app developers have no choice but to adhere to Apple's unfair terms, including the mandatory use of Apple's proprietary billing and payment system," the CCI unitsaid in the June 24 report.
"From the perspective of app developers, Apple iOS ecosystem is indispensable."
Apple and the CCI did not respond to requests for comment.
The Indian investigation report comes as Apple faces increased antitrust scrutiny in other regions.
In June, European Union antitrust regulators said Apple breached the bloc's tech rules, which could result in a hefty fine for the iPhone maker. The company also faces an investigation into new fees imposed on app developers.
In January, in response to a new EU law called the Digital Markets Act, Apple outlined plans to allow software developers to distribute their apps to users in the European Union outside of Apple's own App Store.
The CCI report is the most critical stage of the Indian investigation and it will now be reviewed by the watchdog's senior officials.
Apple and other parties will be allowed to respond before a final decision is reached, which could include monetary fines as well as directives to change business practices.
APPLE VS GOOGLE IN INDIA
The Indian case was first filed by a little-known, non-profit group called "Together We Fight Society" which argued Apple's in-app fee of up to 30% hurts competition by raising costs for app developers and customers.
Later, a group of Indian startups, Alliance of Digital India Foundation, and Tinder-owner Match MTCH.O filed similar cases at the CCI against Apple, which were all heard together.
The CCI investigation team said in its report that no third-party payment processor was being permitted by Apple to provide the services for in-app purchases.
It added that in most cases the apps are also not being allowed to include any external links that direct customers to other purchasing mechanisms, violating Indian competition laws.
Apple's iOS powered about 3.5% of 690 million smartphones in India as of mid-2024, with the rest using Android, according to Counterpoint Research, though it adds Apple's smartphone base in the country has become five times larger in the last five years.
In its submissions to the CCI, Apple argued its market share in India is an "insignificant" 0-5%, while Google commands 90-100%. The company also argued that the in-app payment system allowed it to maintain and develop the safety of its App Store.
But the CCI said, "App stores are OS (operating system) specific and Apple's App store is the sole App store available for reaching iOS users."
"The payment policy of Apple adversely affects the app developers, users and other payment processors," it said.
The CCI report showed it considered comments from many companies including Microsoft, Uber and Amazon during its Apple investigation.
Google too has faced CCI's heat for its in-app payments mechanism.
In October 2022, the CCI imposed a $113 million fine on Google and said it must allow the use of third-party billing and stop forcing developers to use its in-app payment system. Google has challenged the decision.
Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Hugh Lawson
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
