Wins In The Netherlands, Match Now Sues Apple In India For In-App Payments

Tinder owner Match Group has filed an antitrust case against Apple Inc. (photo: twitter @tinder)

JAKARTA - The owner of Tinder, Match Group, has filed an antitrust case against Apple Inc., with competition regulators in India. They again accused the iPhone maker of "monopoly behavior" forcing developers to pay high commissions for in-app purchases. The contents of the lawsuit were also seen by Reuters.

Apple is fending off a number of antitrust challenges around the world. Match's lawsuit last July added to two more cases in India even though Match is the first foreign company to file such a lawsuit against the iPhone maker in the country. Meanwhile in the Netherlands, Math has won a similar lawsuit against Apple.

Apple and the Indian Competition Commission (CCI) did not respond to Reuters questions, while a court spokesman also declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In a previously unreported lawsuit in India, Match argued that Apple's conduct of limiting innovation and development of app developers offering digital services by imposing use of its own in-app purchase system and the 30% commission demanded by Apple was "excessive".

A similar dispute in the Netherlands resulted in a fine of 50 million euros for Apple and a court deal that forced Apple to allow different payment methods in Dutch dating apps.

The US tech giant has long required the use of an in-app payment system, and charges commissions that some developers like Match say globally are too high.

Match argues in its lawsuit in India that users in other countries often prefer to use payment methods that are not authorized by Apple. Even in India a state-backed online transfer system is preferred.

"Apple is therefore leveraging its dominant position in the iOS App Store market to promote the exclusive use of its own payment solutions," said Mark Buse, global head of government relations for Match.

In India, CCI in December began investigating allegations from a local non-profit group that accused Apple's in-app purchase system of hurting competition by driving up costs for app developers and customers, while also acting as a barrier to entry into the market.

The watchdog ordered an investigation after Apple denied wrongdoing, and said it was not the dominant player in India where it has an "insignificant" 0-5% market share, arguing that it was Google's Android that controlled a 90-100% share.

Match's Tinder is one of the most popular dating apps in India, and accounted for around 51% of consumer spending on the top five dating apps during the second quarter of this year, according to data from Sensor Tower.

In recent years, Apple has relaxed some restrictions for developers globally, such as allowing them to use communications, such as email, to share information about payment alternatives outside of their iOS apps and lowering commissions for smaller developers by up to 15%.

"Such commission rates do not apply to Match portfolio brand applications," the Match filing said.

Apple says in India, 87% of the apps in its App Store are apps that pay no commission at all.

Match also complains that Apple considers ride-hailing apps in India such as Uber and SoftBank-backed Ola as providing "physical goods/services", allowing them to provide alternative payment solutions, even though they perform "similar matchmaking functions" like dating apps.

"Dating and ride-sharing apps share the same fundamental goal of matching two people online to meet in the real world. Apple has arbitrarily stated that the two are different," Match said.