Why Apple is being investigated by CCI; the big fight between developers and App Store

Apple uses barrage of anti-competitive retrains and abuse dominate practices in markets for distribution of application for users of smart phone - It is this very allegation that has prompted India's Anti Trust body CCI to launch an investigation into Apple.

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Filed by Rajasthan-based non-profit ‘Together We Fight Society’, the case references Apple’s 30% fee as hurting competition by raising costs, preventing some app developers from ever making it into the market.

Apple has long contended that it has a 'negligible' market and can not be considered a dominant player. The iOS maker says it's market share is just 0-5% of the appropriate relevant market for smartphones in India.

Infact the world's most valued company alleges that informants are working in cahoots with parties with whom Apple has ongoing contractual disputes.

But it is not just in India that Apple is facing scrutiny, regulators and lawmakers in across the globe including South Korea, Australia, the US, the EU, and the UK have their eye on Apple's practices.

In early 2021 European Union’s European Commission issued a “statement of objections” after a complaint from Spotify, stating that Apple is abusing its position in the music streaming app marketplace, possibly violating EU’s antitrust laws.

In 2020, French antitrust authorities ordered to pay a 1.1 billion euro ($1.23 billion) fine for anti-competitive behavior.The French competition authority said the iPhone-maker was guilty of creating cartels within its distribution network and abusing the economic dependence of its outside resellers.