Technology
EU opens Apple's App Store and Apple Pay Antitrust Investigations
Two antitrust surveys of Apple App Store and Apple Pay practice are being started by the European Commission today.
The first survey will examine whether, after complaining about Spotify and Rakuten over Apple's thirty percent cuts to subscriptions and sales of ebooks, Apple has violated EU competition rules in terms of its App Store policies.
Margrethe Vestager, head of the Antitrust division of the EU, states: 'We need to be sure that Apple's regulations do not hinder competition in markets where Apple compete with other device makers, such as its music streaming service Apple Music or Apple Books.
I therefore wanted to closely look at and comply with the rules of the Apple App Store.
Spotify has said that the Apple App Store is using its own Apple Music Service to stiffen innovation and limit consumer choice.
Rakuten filed a similar complaint to the EU earlier this years alleging that, while promoting its own Apple Books Service, it is anti-competitive for Apple to take a 30-% commission on ebooks sold through the app store.
The European Commission will also investigate Apple Pay in addition to the inquiry into the App Store to determine whether the payment system of Apple breaches EU competition regulations.
Apple does not have limited access to its iPhone and Apple Watch devices' Near Field Communications (NFC), which means banks and other financial services providers can't make their own apps available for NFC payment.
As a motivation for its Apple Pay investigation, the Vestager reports an increase in mobile payments in Europe because of the continuous coronavirus pandemic. The conditions for using Apple Pay on commercial apps and websites seem to be defined by Apple, says Vestager.
"It also reserves the iPhone's 'tap and go' feature on Apple Pay. The steps taken by Apple do not deny customers the advantages of modern technology for payment, including better value , quality, innovation and competitive prices.
