Apple becomes the latest target of German antitrust crackdown: Report

Federal Cartel Office said it will focus on the App Store and whether Apple has created a dominant business around its iPhone and operating system iOS

Apple became the latest target of a German antitrust crackdown on tech giants’ market power with a wide-ranging probe examining the company’s “digital ecosystem.”

 

The nation’s Federal Cartel Office said on Monday it will focus on the App Store and whether Apple has created a dominant business around its iPhone and operating system iOS that extends across several markets. Since the start of the year, the agency has opened similar investigations against Facebook, Google and Amazon.com.

 

“A main focus of the investigations will be on the operation of the App Store as it enables Apple in many ways to influence the business activities of third parties,” Andreas Mundt, the regulator’s head said. “We will examine” Apple’s “extensive integration across several market levels, the magnitude of its technological and financial resources and its access to data,” he added.