Russian watchdog says Apple abused mobile app market dominance

An Apple spokesman said the company plans to appeal against the FAS ruling.

After Apple bought back $16 billion worth of shares in the June quarter, it had 4,275,634,000 outstanding shares, as of July 17.  (REUTERS)

Russian competition watchdog FAS on Monday said that Apple Inc has abused its dominant position in the mobile apps market through its App Store for iOS devices and will issue an order demanding that the company resolve regulations breaches.

An Apple spokesman said the company plans to appeal against the FAS ruling.

The Russian ruling comes against the backdrop of European Commission investigations into Apple and the App Store's rules, including requirements that app developers use its own in-app purchase system.

The FAS cited the need to download apps for the Apple's iOS operating system via its App Store. It also said that Apple has unlawfully reserved rights to block any third-parties' apps from the App Store.

The investigation by the FAS followed a complaint from cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, which had said that a new version its Safe Kids application had been declined by Apple's operating system.

It said that Apple had released version 12 of its own parental control app, Screen Time, which had similar functions to the Kaspersky programme. Parental control apps allow parents to control their children's phone and tablet usage.

Apple has said it removed several parental control apps from its App Store because they "put users' privacy and security at risk".

Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Nadezhda Tsydenova.