South Korean local start-ups called for antitrust actions against Apple and Google, investigating the two companies’ application stores for collecting 30% commission.

Official statistics show that these two companies have 87.8% of the Korean app market share.

The Korea Herald reported that local startups submitted a petition to the Korea Communications Commission on Wednesday, requesting an investigation into Apple and Google’s in-app purchases.

According to the alliance of local application developers and startup companies, since 2011, Apple has been forcing developers to use its specific application purchase system, earning about 30% of commissions from users' purchases.

Choi Sung-jin, chairman of the Korea Entrepreneurship Forum, said, “In addition to the excessively high commission rate of 30%, the more important issue is that Apple is forcing the app market to use its specific payment system.”

Start-ups claim that large companies have the power to require Apple to reduce or waive commissions, but small companies have no bargaining chip, which is very unfair.

According to the latest disclosures, Apple offers half-price discounts on commissions to Amazon's apps, and only extracts 15% of commissions from purchases of Amazon Prime Video. In addition, there are exemptions. Apple has also created a special category of applications called "reader applications." Apple does not charge commissions for applications in this category. This is to ensure that the Apple platform can provide Netflix applications.

The antitrust complaint encountered in South Korea this time comes at a time when another antitrust investigation by Apple in South Korea is about to end. The results of the upcoming antitrust investigation have not yet come out, but it is expected that Apple may be fined for antitrust actions and be required to correct illegal behavior. (Tianmen Mountain)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate