KATE THOMPSON FERREIRA: Too big to be? The tech antitrust showdown is coming
Apple faces European Commission probes into anticompetitive practices, while Amazon is in regulators’ spotlight in the US
News broke this week that Apple is the subject of two European Commission investigations into alleged anticompetitive practices.
In March Japanese firm Rakuten filed a complaint saying Apple placing a commission on its e-books while simultaneously promoting the Apple Books service was unfair. Rakuten subsidiary Kobo is an e-book seller and a maker of e-readers. Any e-book bought via in-app purchasing within the Kobo Apple app is hit with a 30% commission, making it — it says — less attractively priced. To work around this, users can buy directly from the Kobo website, but that is a barrier to the impulse buying that in-app purchasing facilitates...
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