14 DAY TRIAL // Russia’s competition watchdog has officially started an investigation on American giant Apple following a complaint received in March from security vendor Kaspersky.
Back then, Kaspersky accused Apple of abusing its dominant position in the mobile market and creating a monopoly around its apps, all of which have a major impact on the other developers releasing apps in the App Store.
Kaspersky complained that Apple removed its Sake Kids app from the App Store three years after its launch mostly because the company bundled similar functionality in iOS called Screen Time.
The Russian security vendor was required to remove two key features from Kaspersky Safe Kids, namely app control and Safari browser blocking, due to alleged violation of the App Store guidelines.
“From our point of view, Apple appears to be using its position as platform owner and supervisor of the sole channel for delivering apps to users of the platform to dictate terms and prevent other developers from operating on equal terms with it,” Kaspersky said.
Apple tight-lipped on the claims
The antitrust investigation started by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) will look into these claims, as per a Reuters report.
Kaspersky said in its original complaint that a decision in its favor could help the entire industry because it’d allow everyone, including Apple, to play by the same rules in the App Store.
“We are therefore confident that we are right and that our initiative will benefit the market at large. We very much hope that Apple will provide competitive terms to third-party developers, so that it can continue its winning relationship with the company and the advancement of progress,” Kaspersky noted.
Apple hasn’t released a statement to Kaspersky’s complaint or to the investigation started by Russia’s FAS, but the company has previously denied such claims in several cases, including in a dispute with Spotify.