The European Commission has been carrying out its investigations on Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) anti-competitive behaviour, and has now made its move. The body issued out a statement against the company in a bid to curb its anti-competitive behaviour.
European Commission mounts pressure on Apple
The former “statement of objections” from the body acknowledges that Apple’s moves to fight off competition in music streaming. The competing steaming app developers have been going through a rough patch, and that is because Apple has been charging them exorbitant rates to stream their music.
Apple must respond to the preliminary charges, and it must do so within a time frame of about 12 weeks.
The European Commission has been focusing on both Apple Pay and App Store. It started its operations last summer.
The Commission raises major concerns regarding how Apple has been moving about the use of its in-app purchase mechanism. The steaming app developers have been struggling with their app distribution through Apple’s platform, and the body discovered that Apple is responsible for the challenges faced by those competitors.
The Commission also expressed concerns over how Apple had been putting up restrictions that made matters difficult for the other app developers. The Commission outlines that the app developer lacked the freedom to show the iPad and iPhone users what they could turn to whenever they needed an alternative and cheaper buying possibilities.
Apple engaged in anti-competitive practices
The statement of objections attacks Apple on its harsh rules. The company has been unfair to the music streaming app developers. Ap0ple has been working with some terms and conditions that forced them to rely on its proprietary in-app purchase system whenever they wanted to engage in distributing paid digital content. The app developers have had to pay a 30% commission as the fee for the developers’ subscriptions.
Apple’s ”anti-steering provisions have long affected the app developers a great deal, and the common wants Apple to stop its unfair acts. It also pushes Apple to abandon its unfair acts of barring developers from communicating to users the other purchasing options they need to consider.
The Commission discloses that many streamlining providers have been paying the 30% fee imposed by Apple. The end users have been suffering the consequences because the app developers have had to transfer the costs. Apply has been giving users the freedom to use subscriptions from other service providers. However, barring app developers from serving end-users with the other options makes Apple come out as “unreal”.
