Apple Inc is facing an antitrust challenge in India for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the apps market by forcing developers to use its proprietary in-app purchase system, according to a source and documents as indicated by Reuters.
The allegations are similar to a case Apple faces in the European Union, where regulators last year started an investigation into Apple’s imposition of an in-app fee of 30% for the distribution of paid digital content and other restrictions.
The Indian case was filed by a little-known, non-profit group that argues Apple’s fee of up to 30% hurts competition by raising costs for app developers and customers, while also acting as a barrier to market entry.
In India, though Apple’s iOS-powered just about 2% of 520 million smartphones by the end-2020 with the rest using Android – Counterpoint Research says the U.S. firm’s smartphone base in the country has more than doubled in the last five years.
The Apple case in India comes just as South Korea’s parliament this week approved a bill that bans major app store operators like Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google and Apple from forcing software developers to use their payment systems.
