EXCLUSIVE Apple suffered an antitrust case in India for payment problems from the application

NEW DELHI, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) faces an antitrust challenge in India for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the app market by forcing developers to use its system purchase integrated into applications, according to a source and documents seen by Reuters.

The allegations are similar to those facing Apple in the European Union, where regulators launched an investigation last year into Apple’s imposition of a 30% on-app tariff for digital content distribution payment and other restrictions.

The Indian case was filed by a little-known, nonprofit group that claims Apple’s rate of up to 30% harms competition by increasing costs for app developers and customers, while acting as to barrier to market entry.

“The existence of the 30% commission means that some application developers will never reach the market … This could also cause harm to consumers,” said the presentation, which has been seen by Reuters.

Unlike court cases in India, the files and details of cases reviewed by the Competition Commission of India (ITC) are not made public. Apple and the ICC did not respond to any requests for comment.

In the coming weeks, the ICC will review the case and could order its inquiry group to conduct a wider investigation, or dismiss it altogether if it finds no merit in it, said a source familiar with the matter. .

“There is a good chance that an investigation could be ordered, also because the EU has been investigating it,” said the person, who declined to identify himself because the details of the case are not public.

The whistleblower, “Together We Fight Society,” a nonprofit based in eastern Rajasthan, western India, told Reuters he filed the case to protect consumers and start-ups. Indians.

In India, although iOS with Apple operated around 2% of 520 million smartphones by the end of 2020, with the rest with Android, Counterpoint Research claims that the smartphone base of the American firm in the country has doubled in the last five years.

Apple’s case in India comes just as South Korea’s parliament this week passed a bill banning major app store operators like Google and Apple from Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O) from forcing software developers to use their payment systems.

“AVERAGE MAN IN TRANSACTIONS”

Companies like Apple and Google say their rate covers the security and marketing benefits their app stores offer, but many companies disagree.

Last year, after Indian startups publicly expressed concern over a fee for payments on the similar app charged by Google, the ICC ordered an investigation into this as part of a broader antitrust inquiry into the company. This investigation is ongoing.

India’s antitrust case against Apple also alleges that its restrictions on how developers communicate with users to offer payment solutions are anti-competitive, and also harm the country’s payment processors that offer paid services. lowest in the range of 1 to 5%.

Apple has hurt competition by restricting developers from informing users of alternative purchasing possibilities, thereby harming the “relationship of app developers with their customers by inserting themselves as an intermediary in all transactions from the application “.

In recent weeks, Apple has untied some of the restrictions for developers globally, such as allowing them to use communications (such as email) to share information about paid alternatives outside of their iOS app.

And on Wednesday, he said he would allow some apps to provide customers with a link to the app to bypass Apple’s purchasing system, though the U.S. firm maintained a ban on allowing other forms of payment options. within applications.

Gautam Shahi, a competition law partner at Indian law firm Dua Associates, said that even if companies change their behavior after filing an antitrust case, the ICC is still analyzing past conduct.

“The JRC will look to the last few years to see if the law was broken and if consumers and competition were harmed,” Shahi said.

The ICC plans to speed up all cases related to large technology companies such as Amazon (AMZN.O) and Google by deploying additional officers and working on stricter internal deadlines, Reuters reported in June.

Reports of Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Additional reports from Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Edited by Kim Coghill

Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.