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| Apple faces antitrust investigations in Brussels |
The European Commission has launched two antitrust investigations into the Apple App Store and Apple Pay as European groups increasingly target online platforms on which thousands of companies rely to do business.
The European Commission said: The first investigation related to Apple's violation of competition rules in the European Union by directing the App Store, forcing application developers to use their purchasing systems to sell products to customers and rules that prevent them from users to report cheap products elsewhere. .
After the organizers received unofficial information, the investigation also included all competing Apple apps in Europe, including iCloud apps and games.
The investigation was carried out after Swedish music services company Spotify filed a complaint last year. Apple said competitors were wrongly controlled to support their Apple Music service, and Spotify welcomed the European Union to take these measures.
A smaller competitor (Rakuten) filed a similar lawsuit against Apple in March this year for dealing with e-books and audiobooks, and there is another 30% billing issue for app developers.
Margaret Westfager, European Union Competition Commissioner, said in a statement: It appears that Apple is the gatekeeper in distributing applications and content to users of the famous Apple devices.
In addition to the App Store survey, another poll focused on Apple’s terms of use of Apple Pay in merchant apps and locations, and refused to allow competitors to access the payment system.
Organizers are also concerned that Apple Pay, launched in 2014, is the only mobile payment service that allows the "Tap & Go" feature to be used on iPhone.
Apple criticized the European Union investigation and said the iPhone in a statement: "It is disappointing that the European Commission relies on unfounded complaints from a group of companies that do not want to pay, even if they come from resources and services. Features."
"These companies do not want to follow the same rules as anyone else. We want to maintain equal opportunities. Anyone with determination and determination can succeed."
The survey was announced one day after Apple announced the results of a new study: The App Store is responsible for total estimated sales of physical products, services, and digital goods in 2019 of $ 519 billion.