When Apple announced its new subscription service a few eyebrows were raised at the seemingly overly hefty 30% cut that they were requesting.
Google of course released their own service with only a 10% cut and now regulators are considering an investigation into Apple's latest service.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DoJ) have “begun looking at the terms” of the service, which could be in breach of of US anti-trust laws.
The problems stem from Apple's rules which prohibit companies from allowing customers to go directly from the app to the company’s web site, where they might find better deals. If publishers don’t abide by the rules, they can’t have any offerings in the app store.
A prominent antitrust attorney said that federal investigators will have to examine several factors.
“Does Apple have some kind of market power?"
"Is there a market in which it’s got a substantial market share – 50, 60, 70, 80 percent?"
"If so, is it abusing it?” he said.
Well that certainly sounds a lot like Apple, but I’ve got a feeling they will wiggle themselves out of this, but you never know…
Source: inquirer