If things in the European Union are getting worse so that Apple can continue to offer its products and services freely, now it is Spain from the National Commission of Markets and Competition (or CNMC from now on) which has opened an investigation into the App Store for possible anti-competitive behavior on the Apple platform.
The CNMC began its investigation last week, alleging that Apple could be abusing its dominant position to impose unfair commercial conditions on app developers. This could violate the Spanish Competition Defense Law, as well as article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Apple has traditionally charged a 30% commission to all App Store developers making more than $15 million a year, and a lower XNUMX% commission to smaller developers. Something that many developers have complained about, raised their voices (see Epic with Fortnite) and that has led to a European Union regulation so that Apple has to allow installing apps from third-party stores or websites (although there is no been the main reason).
On the other hand, in January of this same year, Apple announced some alternative conditions for EU developers, allowing them to opt for a lower commission of 10-17% (plus 3% if they decide to use the App Store payment processor). Furthermore, if a developer opts for these alternative conditions, a basic technological fee of 0,50 euros per user is charged for applications with more than one million annual installations.
Apple denied allegations of unfair trading conditions in a statement to Reuters. An Apple spokesperson said that "Spanish developers of all sizes compete on equal terms in the App Store," and that the company "will continue to work with the Spanish Competition Authority to understand and respond to their concerns." However, earlier this year, the European Union fined Apple $2.000 billion, and If Apple is found to have violated the Spanish Competition Law, it could face fines of up to 10% of its profits from the year prior to the fine being imposed.
We will see how this investigation develops since the CNMC has up to 24 months to investigate to Apple and reach a final decision. What a panorama this is for those from Cupertino in Europe. Terrible.