Apple misused its dominance in India! Competition Commission will investigate

The world’s biggest tech company Apple has suffered a setback. Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered an investigation against Apple for unfair business practices on the App Store. The allegation is that Apple misuses its position in the market. In its 20-page order, CCI has said that Apple’s App Store is the only means 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 bans imposed by Apple almost close 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 investigation by its Director General (DG).

Apple did not respond to questions on CCI’s investigation.

CCI has said that app developers are dependent on Apple’s App Store to reach users and users are also dependent on the App Store to download apps. CCI believes that Apple holds a monopoly in the App Store market in India. App developers depend on it, due to which they have to follow 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 current case, alleged anti-competitive bans have been imposed by Apple on app developers. In other words, Apple has misused its power.

At the same time, Apple has argued that the complainant is working closely with those parties with whom the company is having disputes at the global level. This complaint was filed by NGO, Together We Fight Society. The investigation report in this entire matter is to be given within 60 days.