Germany Opens Antitrust Probe Against Apple

Andreas Mundt, president of the Federal Cartel Office said that a key focus of the investigation will be the operation of the App Store.

Germany on Monday opened an investigation against Apple over anti-competition practices, as the iPhone maker became the fourth US tech giant to be hit by such probes. The antitrust authority had in recent weeks opened similar investigations against Amazon, Google and Facebook under a new law that came into force in January giving regulators more powers to rein in big tech companies. The watchdog said it has initiated the first stage of the probe to determine if Apple has "cross-market significance". "An ecosystem extending across different markets can be one indication of such a position held by a company," said the authority. "Such positions of power can make it very hard for other companies to counter it."