Apple Antitrust

At an App Store antitrust hearing that took place today, Spotify and Match Group (the company behind Tinder) accused Apple of abusing its ‌App Store‌ powers to to disadvantage rival services, reports Bloomberg. Spotify chief Legal Officer Horacio Gutierrez said that Apple's rules are "nothing more than an abusive power grab." "Apple abuses its dominant position as a gatekeeper of the App Store ...

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is spearheading an antitrust hearing on competition in App Stores, today called Apple's AirTags release "timely" because it is the type of conduct that she plans to examine, reports Reuters. "It's timely given that this is the type of conduct that we'll be talking about at the hearing," she said, while also mentioning that criticisms of the App Store and Play...

Apple has agreed to provide its chief compliance officer, Kyle Andeer, to the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel for a hearing on anti-competitive practices for mobile app stores on April 21, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Earlier this week, Apple refused to provide an executive for the hearing around anti-competitive practices on online stores. In a letter obtained by Bloomb...

Apple has decided not to testify in a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on antitrust issues related to mobile App Stores, and U.S. senators have called Apple's refusal "unacceptable," reports Reuters. In a letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook, senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee urged Apple to reconsider the decision because a "full and fair examination" of competition issues requires...

Arizona's proposed state bill "HB2005", that would provide developers with an alternative to Google and Apple's in-app purchase options by allowing developers to use their own payment solutions within apps, appears to have been abandoned after intense lobbying (via The Verge). The bill was advanced through the Arizona House Committee and the Arizona House of Representatives, before it was...

Epic Games today said it had filed a complaint to the UK's antitrust watchdog in support of the government department's ongoing investigation into Apple's alleged anti-competitive behavior. In September 2020, the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an initial inquiry into developers' complaints about Apple's App Store and so-called "anti-competitive" practices....

As it faces a barrage of probes and investigations regarding the App Store and the distribution of apps on its devices, Apple has told Australia's consumer watchdog that developers have "multiple" ways to reach iOS users and claims that they are "far from limited" to simply using the ‌App Store‌. In a new filing (via ZDnet) responding to concerns from the Australian Competition & Consumer...

Apple has told Australia's competition watchdog that it's "surprised" to hear that some developers have concerns over the App Store and the process in which apps are reviewed, rejected, or approved for distribution on the platform. In September of last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched an investigation into Apple's ‌App Store‌ and Google's Play Store...

App developer Kosta Eleftheriou, who highlighted the problem of scam and copycat apps on the App Store last month, is now suing Apple for a variety of allegations, including negligence and anticompetitive conduct (via The Verge). Eleftheriou's complaint, filed against Apple in Santa Clara County, California, accuses the company of exploiting its control over iOS apps "to make billions of...

Apple will face a French antitrust probe into its upcoming App Tracking Transparency feature, following a complaint from advertisers in the country that the planned changes are anticompetitive. Starting in iOS 14.5, Apple will require apps to get opt-in permission from users to collect their random advertising identifier, which advertisers use to deliver personalized ads and track how...

Apple is to be investigated by France's data-protection watchdog following allegations that the company's personalized advertising feature violates European Union data protection and e-privacy rules (via Bloomberg). The National Commission on Informatics and Liberty, known as "CNIL," is France's regulator that oversees privacy and data. CNIL is now examining antitrust allegations from...

Apple's advertising system for monetizing its apps and services is the target of a new complaint in France that has been brought against it by a lobby group representing startups and venture capital firms (via Bloomberg). Submitted on Tuesday by France Digitale to the country's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL), the complaint focuses on an Apple feature called Personalized...

EU regulators are in the process of finalizing a charge sheet against Apple, initiated by an antitrust complaint from Spotify (via Reuters). In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Apple enforces App Store rules that "purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience," accusing the company of "acting as both a player...

Today the United Kingdom's Competition and Market Authority (CMA) launched an official investigation into the distribution of apps on iOS and iPadOS devices in the U.K. and the terms and conditions governing the platform. In September of last year, the authority launched an initial inquiry into developers' complaints about Apple's App Store and so-called "anti-competitive" practices. CMA...

Lawyers for Epic Games and Apple today participated in a management conference with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez to hammer out the details of an upcoming bench trial, which is now confirmed to take place on May 3. Judge Gonzalez is planning to hold an in-person trial that will require all witnesses to travel to Northern California to answer questions before the court and the judge. She believes...

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets, or ACM for short, is reportedly nearing a draft decision in its investigation into Apple over rules that require developers to use its in-app payment system, which charges commissions of between 15% and 30%. According to Reuters, the ACM revealed that the draft decision was nearing completion in letters sent this month to some of the...

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating complaints from developers over Apple's "Sign in with Apple" option, reports The Information. Introduced in iOS 13, Sign in with Apple is a privacy-focused login option that lets users opt to sign in to an app with their Apple ID, without the need to create a username or share an email address with developers. Apple requires all App Store...

Apple and Facebook have been in a very public spat over the course of the last few months as Apple dials up its pro-privacy stance. The two companies have long had tension, but more recently, Facebook is taking shots at an upcoming iOS and iPadOS feature that will require apps and data companies such as Facebook to ask for users' permission before tracking them across other sites and websites. ...

Apple Korea's correction scheme to spend 100 billion won ($89.7 million) to support consumers and small-sized businesses has been accepted by the country's antitrust watchdog, following a years-long investigation into the company's unfair market practices (via The Korea Herald). Apple has been under investigation in Korea since 2016 over unfair iPhone contracts that required local carriers...

Facebook is preparing to launch a lawsuit against Apple for alleged anticompetitive behaviour, particularly regarding App Tracking Transparency and iMessage, according to The Information. The antitrust lawsuit would contend that Apple has abused its power in the smartphone industry by enforcing App Store rules that Apple itself supposedly does not have to follow. Within this, the case...