The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday ordered a thorough investigation into Apple's major technology allegations of business misconduct against its App Store.
Apple allegedly uses restrictions on competition and misuse of market-leading practices to distribute applications (applications) to users and to process payments for digital content used within iOS mobile applications.
An appeal was filed against Apple Inc and Apple India Pvt Ltd.
In a 20-page program, watchdog said Apple's App Store is the only app developer channel to distribute their apps to iOS customers pre-installed on all iPhones and iPads.
"In addition, third-party stores are not allowed to be included in Apple's App Store as developer guidelines and agreements prevent app developers from providing these services ... these restrictions imposed by Apple are blocking the iOS app store 's market for power. . distributors of the application, "says the order.
According to CCI, this prima facie results in the denial of market access to powerful app distributors / app store developers by violating competition principles.
In addition, such prima facie processes result in restrictions / restrictions on the technical or scientific development of services related to the iOS app store, due to reduced pressure on Apple to continue developing and developing its own app store, which also violates competition rules. , says the order.
Citing these factors, the director ordered a detailed investigation by its Director-General (DG).
Apple did not respond to a question on the CCI probe.
To assess the complaint, CCI considered the "iOS app stores market in India" as appropriate.
Watchdog said app developers seem to be relying on Apple's App Store to reach app users and app users rely on the App store to download apps.
"Therefore, the Commission is of the opinion that Apple should hold a single position in the relevant market for iOS app stores in India. , "he said.
Among other things, watchdog noted that Apple imposes conditions on the distribution of app distribution services to the app developer accepting additional obligations, either by their nature or through commercial use, that are not linked to the subject of the distribution service distribution contract.
"This appears to be a violation of Section 4 (2) (d) of the Act. In addition, it also causes Apple to use its top position in the App Store market to enter / protect its in-app purchasing market. Payment processing market, in violation of Section 4 ( 2) (e) of the Act, "means the order.
Section 4 (2) of the Competition Act deals with the misuse of a senior position.
Regarding Apple's perception that it has a market share of only 0-5 percent, the order said "The commission is of the opinion that Apple's approach is not well understood as anti-competitive restrictions, in the current case, have been imposed. , by Apple ".
In other words, CCI noted that the allegations in the current case relate to the abuse of Apple's rule in relation to app developers.
"Therefore, at this stage, it appears that the relevant market should be defined from the perspective of application developers and not from the perspective of end users," the order said.
Apple has argued that the plaintiff may have acted in concert with organizations Apple has ongoing ongoing trade and contract disputes around the world and / or appeals to other regulators.
Other than that, the company told the regulator that it should be aware of the efforts of people who use proxies as a front rather than appearing in their names.
In this regard, the CCI stated that in the light of the existing legal framework, the informant has a limited role and that a hearing before a Commission is directed only to the appropriateness of a matter in terms of the provisions of the Act. "The Commission will intervene in any matter only if it is necessary to have a similar consideration under the relevant provisions of the Act".
The complaint was lodged by the NGO Together We Fight Society.