Brazil: App Store sanctions could come-after a technical test

Apple has trouble with the competition authorities not only in the USA or the EU, but also in Brazil for a long time. Now a procedure that the e-commerce provider Mercadolibre had had an effort in 2022-continued to have progressed-with one Decision against Apple. The technical department of the Brazilian competitive officer Cade (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica) decided that Apple’s app-store business model could be “competitive practices”. Apple could now be bammed both penalty payments and changes in its ecosystem.

Apple: “Safe and trustworthy marketplace”

The technical department of Cade writes, among other things, that Apple’s type of app store design “artificially receives” its dominance. This includes, for example, the prevention of alternative payment routes in the App Store. It is still unclear how high a corresponding penalty would be for Apple. In the meantime, there were five -digit amounts in the room last year – per day. The Group is also to be forced by Cade to cease its behavioral behavior.

Apple announced in a comment that for more than 16 years with the App Store, a “safe and trustworthy marketplace” in Brazil had been created in which Brazilian companies had done successful business. Cade’s measures threatened to “damage the experience that our users love”. You can also see risks for privacy and security. Cade wants to continue to be committed to “defending the rights of users and developers on our platform”.

US lawsuit against iPhone monopoly continues

Meanwhile, Apple has also suffered a legal defeat in the United States. In the process of a possible iPhone monopoly, which the US Justice Ministry, Department, Doj) has strained, Apple was unable to have the lawsuit rejected. One “Motion to Dismiss” was rejected by the responsible US district judge in Newark, New Jersey. Apple’s lawyers had claimed that the lawsuit was based on false facts and was illegal.

The Doj focuses on Apple’s specifications for developers and the compulsion of commissions in app store sales. In addition, the officials believe Apple blocks third-party services and hardware from third parties to protect their own devices.