The apple company may face a very serious problem in the Japanese country. Criminal? app store app store, which is being investigated in the field, as it may be in violation of state laws. Do you want to know more about this topic, know how Apple is defending itself and what could happen? In this post we tell you.
Japanese Antimonopoly Law Is on the Table
English-speaking portal MacRumors echoed some of the information shared by Japanese website Nikkei, stating that “App Store policies May violate Japanese antimonopoly law According to a report by the Japan Fair Trade Commission.
It all starts by mentioning the monopoly established by Apple and Google, as both companies dominate the application market in that area. That dominant position makes Japanese regulators “want Apple and Google Allow users to choose third-party payment methods for apps and services Instead of forcing them to use the default options,” they report.
The fact that the two companies dominate an app market in that to buy them, you have to use Apple’s proprietary platform (and Google in the case of the Play Store) means that, yes or yes, Apple is all Controls transactions and out-of-pocket commissions. Each app or subscription sold through your store. And we’re not talking about it happening on a smaller scale, but it’s happening across the country.
The FTC (Japan Fair Trade Commission) “is seeking more regulations to crack down on anti-competitive behavior and have said they plan to work with the government on digital skills for new regulations,” they per MacRumors. Let’s explain from
Similarly, a Nikkei report suggests that Japan may force Apple to accept third-party payment methods in the App Store. This time, App Store commission rate is between 15% to 30% And given the company’s strong dominant position in the country, the FTC states that it “could be abused.”
What can happen from now on
What we have on the table is a company that has a dominant position in an application market, nationally. In this market, every app sold has to pass through Apple’s economic “hoop” and, in this “hoop”, the company pockets between 15% and 30% of each app’s amount as commission.
On the other hand, we have a regulatory commission that monitors non-abusive practices, in a market that is national in scope. And here, enters the operating system iOS 17. This version is expected to “accommodate the functionality that iPhone applications can be downloaded through alternative App Stores.”
In other states also, Apple had to give land in this matter. A case in point is the Netherlands, where they have had to include third-party payment methods in dating applications, after a dispute with the country’s Authority for Consumers and Markets.
