Kaspersky’s statement on the European Commission’s investigations into Apple’s APP store rules

Kaspersky welcomes the decision by the European Commission to open investigations into compliance of Apple's App Store rules with EU competition law. Although the company has filed its own complaint regarding Apple’s policy in Russia (with the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia), we believe that changes should be made globally, as today’s digital world doesn’t have borders, and existing issues relate to Apple’s global policies.

We are looking forward to Apple's upcoming annual Worldwide Developers Conference 2020 in a week, and hope to hear about changes in the company’s various policies and guidelines that would allow them to restore competitive balance and create equal conditions for all market participants, including Apple.

We respect Apple as a partner and an innovator; however, we believe that it is important to respect the rights of third-party developers to establish fair competition in how applications function, as well as fair marketing opportunities, including the ability to inform users about alternative ways to purchase product outside of the App Store.

On March 19, 2019, Kaspersky filed a complaint with the FAS of Russia regarding Apple’s policy in the parental control applications market for mobile devices with iOS. The case is still ongoing. Kaspersky hopes that the resolutions for both the FAS and European Commission cases will be based on principles of fair competition and will take into account the interests of all involved parties.