Apple faced antitrust charges in India for allegedly abusing its dominant market position by forcing developers to use its proprietary in-app shopping system.
The charges are similar to those faced by the company in Europe, where regulators last year launched an investigation into Apple's imposition of a 30% commission on paid content distribution by developers. The Indian case was initiated by a little-known nonprofit group claiming that Apple's 30% commission hurts competition by increasing costs for software developers and their customers and preventing certain products from going to market.
In the coming weeks, the Competition Commission of India will review the case and may order its Investigation Department to conduct a broader investigation or close it altogether if it does not find compelling reasons for further action. The nonprofit that filed the lawsuit says it acted to protect Indian consumers and startups. Apple and the Competition Commission have not yet commented on the situation.
Curiously, an antitrust case against Apple in India was filed right after the South Korean parliament this week approved a bill that would prohibit major app store operators like Apple and Google from forcing software developers to use their payment systems.
It's worth noting that by the end of 2020, iOS was installed on only 2% of India's 520 million smartphones. However, Counterpoint Research reports that the number of iPhone users in India has more than doubled in the past five years.
Source: Reuters website
