India reportedly to find Apple anti-competitive with the App Store

Apple has been under scrutiny for a few years from different regulator bodies for alleged anticompetitive practices. Now, the Competition Commission of India is reportedly going to join in with the scrutinizing organizations and regulators. Reportedly, the entity is set to announce its finding that Apple has committed antitrust violations with the App Store, and has reportedly informed the Cupertino tech giant.

A group called "Together We Fight Society" (TWFS) complained to the Competition Commission of India back in 2021 about Apple's App Store rules and fees. In July of last year, the Competition Commission made a preliminary conclusion, finding that Apple may be abusing its position of power over digital services and products.

Apple, however, said that the announcement had disclosed sensitive information. The report by the commission body was not made public though, but it was available to some parties, including the TWFS group.

Apple also accused the group of failing to provide assurance that the report had been destroyed after objecting to the info disclosed in the report. Apple also asked the Competition Commission to withdraw the report and even close the investigation. The commission though rejected the request.

Now, unspecified sources say that the Commission believes Apple has broken India's anticompetitive laws by requiring developers to use its in-app payment systems. The findings are not officially announced yet, but the sources indicate Apple has been informed of those conclusions.

It's not clear at the moment how long Apple has before the findings are officially announced, or whether fines would be imposed. Apple is expected to repeat a previous claim that its market share in India is an "insignificant" one, meaning the company doesn't have a dominant position in India to abuse power.

However, Apple may be forced to open up its App Store in the country. The Commission has previously directed Google to allow third-party payment systems on the Play Store. We'll see what happens next.

These legal disputes and anti-competitive investigations take quite a lot of time to conclude. Apple will likely object to the findings, and appeals may continue for quite a long time.