Apple faces new antitrust case in Russia over state-backed apps

Russia has escalated its long-running dispute with Apple by opening an antitrust case that could cost the iPhone maker nearly $50 million over its refusal to preload state-backed apps.


After years of threatening to do so, Russia has finally begun investigating Apple after it failed to preinstall state-backed apps onto devices in the country. The apps in question are Max, a state-backed messaging service, and RuStore, a domestic app store.

"The company did not comply with the FAS warning to preinstall the national messaging app and the national app store on its iOS devices (iPhone, iPad). The FAS opened a case against the company in accordance with the competition law and the already established law-enforcement practice in regard to Apple," a statement seen by Interfax said.


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