What you need to know
- Apple is in trouble again over its App Store.
- Russia has formally opened an antitrust case into the issue of alternative payments on the App Store.
- It previously warned Apple would have until September 30 to stop "abuse on the market."
Russia has opened an antitrust probe in Apple over alleged anticompetitive behavior on its App Store.
As reported by Reuters:
Russia has opened an antitrust case against Apple (AAPL.O) for failing to allow app developers to tell customers about alternative payment options when using its App Store platform, Russia's anti-monopoly regulator said on Wednesday. The U.S. tech giant could face a fine based on its revenue in Russia if found guilty of a breach, the regulator said. It did not indicate the size of any potential fine.
The move shouldn't come as a surprise to Apple, Russia had previously warned the company about the issue and has given it until September 30 to "stop abuse on the market."
The issue of Apple's App Store an alternative payment is a hot-button issue the world over, and also forms the core issues of Apple's legal battle with Epic Games.
This year South Korea became the first country to legislate against Apple's mandatory in-app payment system with its Telecommunications Business Act. From August:
The law is an amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act that will prevent Apple and Google from requiring that developers use their own in-app payment methods on places like the iOS App Store and Google Play. The law also has provisions for preventing unreasonable delay to the approval of apps or deleting them from the marketplace so as to prevent retaliation. Failure to comply could mean massive fines for Apple, up to 3% of the company's total revenue in the country. It means developers will be able to process payments using methods other than Apple's in-app purchase methods, potentially depriving Apple of its commission on transactions, although the company has previously said it would still need to collect commission from developers even if they used other payment methods.
