{"id":302433,"date":"2025-07-29T23:26:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T23:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/302433\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T23:26:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T23:26:16","slug":"apple-facing-expanded-probe-from-spains-antitrust-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/302433\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Facing Expanded Probe From Spain’s Antitrust Watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain\u2019s competition watchdog is expanding its investigation into Apple\u2019s<\/a> App Store.<\/p>\n

The Comisi\u00f3n Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia<\/a> (CNMC) announced<\/a> Tuesday (July 29) that it would widen the parameters of a probe launched last year into the conditions the tech giant places on developers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CNMC is now investigating whether Apple has established a pricing schedule that developers must follow to distribute their apps in its stores,\u201d the regulator said in a news release, adding that this would constitute conduct restricting competition between companies, in violation of European Union law.<\/p>\n

In announcing the probe<\/a> last year, the CNMC set a 24-month timeframe to conclude its efforts. That deadline will remain in place, the commission said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Reached for comment by PYMNTS, an Apple spokesperson said the company would continue to work with the Spanish regulator to ensure its concerns were understood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe designed the App Store to be a safe and trusted experience for users and a great business opportunity for developers in Spain and around the world,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The CNMC is one of several regulators around the world looking into Apple\u2019s App Store practices<\/a>. Last week, the U.K.\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a report saying the company and Google enjoyed an \u201ceffective duopoly\u201d with their mobile platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple and Google\u2019s mobile platforms are both critical to the U.K. economy \u2014 playing an important role in all our lives, from banking and shopping to entertainment and education,\u201d CMA CEO Sarah Cardell said in a news release. \u201cBut our investigation so far has identified opportunities for more innovation and choice<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CMA\u2019s investigation uncovered concerns among businesses and customers about both companies, such as \u201cinconsistent and unpredictable\u201d app review processes, which can bring about uncertainty for developers and delayed or failed launches, the regulator said.<\/p>\n

Writing about the myriad pressures facing Apple earlier this month, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster argued that the App Store \u201cnow has a big blinking asterisk next to it\u201d following an antitrust ruling<\/a> in favor of Epic Games, which had sued the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpotify and Netflix and Amazon already use their newfound right<\/a> to steer users off-platform to sign up,\u201d Webster wrote. \u201cStripe has published a playbook to show developers how, which suggests a giant sucking sound may follow. Apple\u2019s grip on its ecosystem profits is slipping.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s competition watchdog is expanding its investigation into Apple\u2019s App Store. The Comisi\u00f3n Nacional de los Mercados y…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[7155,3562,44660,1442,2000,299,12,3279,104,111555,3281],"class_list":{"0":"post-302433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-antitrust","9":"tag-app-store","10":"tag-cnmc","11":"tag-competition","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-pymnts-news","16":"tag-spain","17":"tag-the-comision-nacional-de-los-mercados-y-la-competencia","18":"tag-whats-hot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114939113218545987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}