Apple successfully blocked its opponents in India, Match, owner of Tinder, and a startup group, access to their commercially sensitive information, which was part of the antitrust findings against the US firm, according to a confidential order.
An investigation carried out last year by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) concluded that Apple exploded its dominant position in the application store market for its iOS operating system to the detriment of developers, users and other payment processors.
Apple denied having acted badly and claimed to be a small actor in India, where the phones that use Google’s operating system are dominant.
The research process concluded, but the main members of the ICC must still review the findings and issue a final resolution, which could force Apple to pay fines and even modify its practices if it is confirmed that the company incurred irregularities.
Apple’s opposite parts in the case —Match and the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) Startup group – asked the CCI to access certain confidential information, which includes developers and details of total turnover. However, this information was censored when the research reports are shared with the parties.
Match argued that Apple had been “alleging excessive and unjustified censures in its presentations” worldwide “to hinder the effective scrutiny of its practices”, but the CCI did not agree and failed in favor of Apple, according to a confidential order of 13 pages issued on March 3.
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The order took note of Apple’s comments, stating that “the mere fact that Match is involved in similar antimonopoly procedures” with the company in other places will harm Apple if its commercially sensitive information is provided to Match.
“The Commission indicates that the dissemination of such censored information at this stage to Adif and Match is not necessary or convenient … and that such dissemination could harm Apple’s interests and other third parties,” said the CCI.
The case in India was initially presented by a little -known non -profit organization called “Together We Figh Society”, which argued that Apple’s rate for applications, up to 30%, damages competition by increasing costs for developers and customers.
According to Counterpoint Research, approximately 4% of the 712 million smartphones in India operated with Apple iOS in late 2024, and the rest with Android of Google. Apple’s smartphone base in the country quintupled in the last five years.
Apple can still oppose the conclusions of the CCI investigation and it is expected that the main members of the control agency will issue a definitive failure in the coming weeks.
In 2022, the CCI imposed a fine of 113 million dollars to Google and declared that it should allow the use of third -party billing and stop forcing developers to use their payment system integrated in the application, which charges a commission of 15 to 30%. Google has denied any irregularity.
With Reuters information
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