Source: The Economic Times
On Saturday, June 11, the Netherlands’ antitrust watchdog stated that Apple Inc would finally allow other payment methods in Dutch dating apps. Significantly, this would mark the end of the dispute that led to the tech giant paying fines worth 50 million euros.
In a statement this week, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (AMC) stated that with the concession, the iPhone maker would meet the requirement that the Dutch regulator had set. Specifically, the requirements were set under the rules of European Union and Dutch Competition ones. For long now, Apple had mandated the use of its in-app payment system. Mainly, this charges commissions to a maximum of 30% that certain developers have been visibly considering rather high. These developers include owner of dating app Tinder, Match Group Inc.
The chairman of the ACM board, Martijin Snoep gave a statement on the matter. He pointed out how ‘powerful companies’ in the digital world have the crucial role to ‘keep the market fair and open.’ He added how the iPhone maker ‘avoided that responsibility,’ going on to abuse its superior position ‘vis-a-vis dating app providers.’
“We are glad that Apple has finally brought its conditions in line with European and Dutch competition rules.”
Last year, the ACM gave the ruling that the tech giant’s rules were in violation of Dutch competition in the market of dating apps. Additionally, it ruled how Apple is required to allow the developers to appropriately use third-party payment processors. On Friday, June 10, the iPhone maker laid out the specific rules on how the Dutch dating apps’ developers can successfully skip its in-app payment systems.
The company specified how the developers would still have to pay commission for sales which are made outside the in-app payment system. However, Apple would finally give them a slight discount instead of taking a commission of 30%. Moreover, a representative of Apple clearly referred to the tech giant’s update from June 10 for dating apps in Netherlands. In it, the company had stated that it disagreed with the original order from the ACM.
In the update, Apple stated how it did not ‘believe some of these changes’ were suitable taking into account the users’ ‘privacy or data security.’ Referring to its commitment to ‘constructive engagement with regulators,’ Apple stated how it is ‘making additional changes’ at the request of the ACM. It added how as said before, they were still in disagreement with the ‘original order and are appealing it.’
