Apple misused its dominance in India! Competition commission will investigate

The world’s largest tech company Apple has suffered a setback. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered an investigation against Apple for unfair business practices on the App Store. It is alleged that Apple abuses its position in the market. In its 20-page order, the CCI has said that Apple’s App Store is the only way for app developers to distribute apps to iOS users. The App Store is pre-installed on every iPhone and iPad. Third party app stores are not allowed to be listed on Apple’s App Store. These restrictions imposed by Apple almost shut down the App Store market for iOS.

According to CCI, this prima facie violates competition standards and prevents potential app distributors and app store developers from accessing the market. Citing these reasons, the regulator has ordered a detailed inquiry by its Director General (DG).

Apple did not respond to questions on the CCI investigation.

CCI has said that app developers depend on Apple’s App Store to reach users and users also depend on App Store to download apps. CCI believes that Apple holds a monopoly in the App Store market in India. App developers are dependent on it, due to which they have to abide by Apple’s non-negotiable rules.

Apple’s claim that it has only 0-5 percent market share, CCI has said that Apple’s approach is completely wrong. The reason for this is that in the present case, Apple has imposed alleged anti-competitive bans on app developers. In other words, Apple has abused its power.

At the same time, Apple has argued that the complainant is working closely with the parties with whom the company’s disputes are going on at the global level. This complaint was lodged by the NGO, Together We Fight Society. The investigation report has to be given within 60 days in this entire case.