Apple won a procedural battle in India, protecting its sensitive commercial information against its adversaries.
According to an order that was kept confidential, the tech giant blocked Tinder’s owner Match Group from accessing the confidential data used in the initial findings of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the US company.
This legal dispute centers on an investigation conducted by CCI in 2013. The CCI concluded that Apple had abused their dominant position within the iOS app store market to the detriment app developers, iOS users and other payment processors.
Apple vehemently denies any wrongdoing. It argues that it’s a small player on the Indian market where Android-powered phones are dominant.
The CCI has not yet reviewed the results and issued a final decision.
Apple could face significant financial penalties and be forced to change its business model if it is found to have engaged in anticompetitive conduct.
Redactions, access and dispute of data
This dispute is centered around the request made by Match Group to the Alliance of Digital India Foundation, a group that represents Indian startups. They wanted to access certain confidential data which had been removed from the investigation reports provided to the parties.
The information provided included developer payments and billing totals. This data was considered crucial by the opponents to support their argument.
Match Group argued that Apple was “claiming excessive, unwarranted and unnecessary redactions to its submissions around the world” “to prevent effective scrutiny its practices”.
The CCI, however, sided with Apple and rejected Match’s arguments, issuing a confidential 13-page order on 3 March, which was reviewed by Reuters.
Apple was concerned about the order, which noted that Match’s involvement in antitrust cases with other companies will harm Apple if Apple provides Match sensitive commercial information.
CCI concluded “disclosure at this time to ADIF or Match of redacted information is neither expedient nor necessary…and disclosure could cause potential harm to Apple’s and third-party interests.”
CCI, Apple Match Group or ADIF has not made any comments.
The case began with a complaint by a non profit
In the Indian case, a non-profit, relatively obscure organization named “Together We Fight Society” initially brought it. They argued Apple’s high in-app fees, up to 30%, were unfairly damaging competition because they increased costs for app developers as well as consumers.
Data from Counterpoint Research shows that Apple iOS will power approximately 4% (or 712,000,000) of India’s smartphones by the year 2024. The remaining market share is dominated Google Android.
Apple has seen a significant increase in its smartphone market in China in recent years. The number of iPhones in the country increased five-fold in just five years.
Apple faces an uphill battle in India’s antitrust lawsuit despite this procedural win.
It is possible that the company will still contest the CCI’s findings. The senior CCI members should issue their final decision in the next few weeks.
Google’s antitrust fight in India
The case is similar to one involving Google India in a similar antitrust fight.
The CCI fined Google $113,000,000 in 2022 and ordered that it allow third-party billing and stop forcing developers to pay for apps using its system. This payment method charges a commission ranging between 15% and 30%.
Google denies any wrongdoing, and challenges the CCI decision.
The ICD published the article Apple blocks opponents’ access to key data in India Antitrust Case.
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