Apple accuses business rivals of filing antitrust case on App Store in India

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Apple has filed a lawsuit to prevent an antitrust investigation in India, telling the regulator it is not big enough in the country to abuse its market power, while saying the lawsuit was launched by critics of the App Store policies.

In September, Apple was the subject of an antitrust complaint filed with the Competition Commission of India (ICC), alleging that it was abusing the market by forcing developers to use the App’s built-in payment mechanism. Store. In an attempt to push back the investigation, Apple says it’s not even big enough to even be ranked as dominant in that particular market.

The record, seen by Reuters on Sunday, has Apple saying its market share is “insignificant” between 0% and 5% of the total market. Meanwhile, the Google-controlled Android is used by more than 90% of the region’s smartphones.

“Apple is not dominant in the Indian market,” said the Nov. 16 submission by Chief Compliance Officer Kyle Andeer. “Without domination there can be no abuse.”

The case adds “Google has already been established to be the dominant player in India,” referring to a September ICC report that Google was acting anti-competitive in India.

The original case of the nonprofit Together We Fight Society accused Apple of dominating the market for unlicensed mobile operating systems. Apple retorts that the entire smartphone market should be considered, including licensed Android.

The relatively unknown group is also under attack by Apple in the filing, with the iPhone maker suggesting that the complaint was a “proxy filing” and that it “was likely acting in concert with the parties with whom Apple has business disputes and global contractors and / or who have complained to other regulators. ”

This list may include Epic Games, Tile, Spotify, and many others who have criticized Apple’s App Store policies, including its well-known 30% transaction fee.

Together We Fight Society told Reuters it believed the comment was “made to harm the spirit” of the ICC “without any iota of evidence.” Apple apparently did not include proof of its “filing of power of attorney” request.

The ICC is still in the process of determining whether or not to undertake a full investigation of the complaint and may make that decision in a few weeks.

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