Responding to the Competition Commission of India’s report which accuses Apple of engaging in unfair practices in the iOS App market, the American tech giant has asked the trade watchdog’s Director General (investigation arm) to revise its report. This comes after a 142-page document, which reportedly details the CCI’s findings about the iPhone maker abusing its market leverage, got leaked.
Apple’s contention, according to sources, is that it has not yet received the DG’s final draft of the report. As per due process, before DG’s findings went to the CCI Apple had to be given an opportunity to respond to the allegations. It is only after Apple’s submission that the CCI could release the final report on unfair practices which was first probed in 2021, after evidence emerged showing that the company had abused its market dominance. Apple has denied any wrongdoings in comments submitted to the agency in 2022.
Probe into abusive practices
According to recent reports, investigations conducted by the Director General revealed that Apple had abused its dominance in the market of app stores by forcing developers to use its proprietary in app-purchasing system.
A supplementary probe report by the anti-trust body said Apple’s alleged abusive conduct were in violation of Section 3 and Section 4 of the Competition Act.
The CCI’s findings could eventually lead to a penalty being slapped on Apple, but sources indicate that the trade authority is yet to send its findings to Apple for a response.
It is to be noted that CCI recently launched a similar probe into Google in March 2024 around Google’s billing system and in-app purchase policy. This had blown up amidst a protracted dispute between Google and Indian app developers. Google pulled more than 100 apps from 10 developers in India last month after the Indian firms had “persistently not complied with its billing policies.” The tech giant later restored the apps, but said that the firms will have to comply with the Play Store billing policies.