The Competition Commission of India now has its crosshairs locked on Apple as the company has denied allegations of abuse of market power in the apps industry. The tech giant has submitting. A filing which claims that its current market share of 0-5% is too small to have any kind of dominance over the app market in India, according to a report published by Reuters.
The filing was made after the anti-trust body started reviewing allegations that Apple hurts competition by forcing app developers to use its proprietary system which can charge commissions of up to 30% on in-app purchases.
"Apple is not dominant in the Indian market ... Without dominance, there can be no abuse," Apple said in the submission dated Nov. 16 which was signed by its Chief Compliance Officer, Kyle Andeer as quoted by Reuters. Apple asserted that it could not have that kind of power in a market dominated by Android and Google, which itself charges 30% for Playstore Services.
In addition to this, the claim that a flat 30% commission was ridiculous as Apple adjusted rates for small developers while it was the biggest multi-million dollar corporations who paid the 30% commission rate, the company said in its filing.
"Together We Fight Society", the orgnisation that filed the anti-trust complaint against Applie said that Apple with iOS dominates the market for non-licensable mobile operating systems. However Apple countered this claim in its filing where it pointed out that the entire market should be taken into consideration. In addition to this, the company alleged that the case was a result of conspiracy against Apple by companies with which it has competition with or ongoing legal disputes.
"Together We Fight Society" said that the claim of conspiracy made by the company had no merit.
Apple is already battling multiple anti-trust suits around the globe, like in the European Union, where regulators last year started an investigation into Apple's in-app fees for distribution of paid digital content and other restrictions. South Korea has already banned major app store operators from forcing customers to use their payment systems.