Tinder takes Apple to court over ‘monopolistic conduct’
TINDER-OWNER Match Group has filed an antitrust case against Apple with the competition regulator in India accusing it of “monopolistic conduct” that forces developers to pay high commissions for in-app purchases, a legal filing seen by Reuters shows.
Match’s Tinder is one of India’s most popular dating apps and accounted for about 51 per cent of consumer spending in the top five dating apps during the second quarter of this year, data from Sensor Tower shows.
Apple is fending off a raft of antitrust challenges around the globe and Match’s July filing adds to two other cases in India though Match is the first foreign company to mount such a challenge against the iPhone maker in the country.
Apple and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) did not respond to Reuters queries, while a Match spokesperson declined to comment on its filing.
In the previously unreported India filing, Match argues Apple’s conduct restricts innovation and development of app developers that offer digital services by enforcing the use of its proprietary in-app purchase system and “excessive” 30 per cent commission.
A similar dispute in the Netherlands resulted in a 50 million euro fine for Apple and an agreement to allow different payment methods in dating applications.
The US giant has long mandated use of its in-app payment system, which charges commissions that some developers like Match have argued globally are too high.
Match argues in its India filing that users in other countries often prefer to use payment methods which Apple does not permit, and in India a state-backed online system was preferred.
“Apple is therefore leveraging its dominant position in the iOS App Store market, to promote the exclusive use of its own payment solution,” Mark Buse, head of global government relations for Match, said in the filing.
In India, the CCI in December started investigating allegations from a local non-profit group that alleged Apple’s in-app purchase system hurts competition by raising costs for app developers and customers, also acting as a barrier to market entry.
The watchdog ordered the probe after Apple denied any wrongdoing, saying it was not the dominant player in India where it has an “insignificant” 0-5 per cent market share, arguing it was Google’s Android that had a 90-100 per cent share.
The investigation will now cover each of the three separate cases that have been filed against Apple, three sources with knowledge of the proceedings said.
In recent years, Apple has loosened some restrictions for developers globally, like allowing them to use communications – such as email – to share information about payment alternatives outside of their iOS app and lowering commissions for smaller developers to 15 per cent. “Such commission rate does not apply to the apps of Match’s portfolio brands,” Match’s filing stated.
Apple says in India, 87 per cent of apps on its App Store are those which don’t pay any commissions at all.
Match has also complained Apple considers ride-hailing apps in India such as Uber and SoftBank-backed Ola as those providing “physical goods/services”, allowing them to provide
alternate payment solutions, even though they perform “a similar matchmaking function”. “Both dating and ridesharing apps share the same fundamental purpose i.e. matching two people online to meet in the real world,” Match said. (Reuters)