Spain Expands Antitrust Probe into Apple App Store Pricing

Spain's National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has expanded its ongoing antitrust investigation into Apple to examine whether the company imposes unfair commercial conditions on app developers by requiring them to adhere to a pricing schedule within the App Store. This expanded probe follows new evidence suggesting that Apple's pricing rules may restrict competition between developers, potentially violating European Union competition laws. Apple denies the allegations, maintaining that developers compete on a level playing field in the App Store. The CNMC has one more year to complete its investigation and emphasized that the expansion does not prejudge the final outcome. The probe follows previous EU regulatory actions against Apple, including a €1.8 billion fine related to anti-steering provisions for music streaming apps. Meanwhile, analysts remain cautiously optimistic about Apple's market performance, rating the stock as "Outperform" despite the regulatory scrutiny.