The antitrust watchdog might ask Apple to make changes to its app store billing and commission policies.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which recently got a new chairperson, is reviewing the report on an investigation into Apple’s app store billing and policies, and the parties involved in the case will be called next to make their submissions, legal experts said. The findings of the probe and the stand of the CCI are likely to be in line with the antitrust regulator’s order in a suit against Google, they said.
The CCI may ask the iPhone company to make changes to its app store billing and commission policies, as it has done in the case of Google, these experts said. That would require Apple to open the 'walled garden', its closely guarded iOS operating system, something that the world's most valuable company has not had to do anywhere in the world.
In its October order, the CCI had directed Google that it must, among other things, allow third-party billing systems for payment on its app store and not limit the option for users to Google Play's billing system (GPBS). Google has appealed against the order.
Industry sources told ET that if the CCI imposes restrictions similar to what it has done in the case of Google, that would go against the very essence of Apple's beliefs which deliberately has kept iOS as a ‘walled garden’. It could hamper the curated user experience that Apple provides while also opening up the risk of privacy and security breaches, they said.
In February, it was reported that the CCI had concluded its probe into allegations of anticompetitive practices by Apple. At the time, people in the know said the competition watchdog did not release the probe report because it did not have a sitting chairperson. In May, the commission appointed a new chairperson, Ravneet Kaur, and she is expected to take up the matter soon.
The report in the Apple matter could be the first significant one pertaining to Big Tech to be issued in the tenure of the new chairperson.
It will be important especially for companies in Big Tech and ecommerce which are facing competition law/ antitrust cases and investigations across the major jurisdictions including the US, EU and India. Since competition law regulators in major jurisdictions tend to learn from each other, Apple (and other enterprises in this segment) will be concerned about the kind of precedent that the CCI may set, ET expert said.
According to him, penalty, if any, should not be of significant concern for Apple, but any directions regarding behavioral modification may have a significant impact on business strategies and revenue.
Source: The Economic Times
