Japan to launch probe into Google, Apple activities, may toughen antitrust regulations

Amid growing allegations of antitrust violations by Apple and Google, the Japanese government is set to probe the activities of the two tech giants.

Tokyo: The Japanese government will probe the activities of Apple and Google, amid growing allegations of antitrust violations by US tech giants.

A government panel will be formed this month to probe the connection between domestic smartphone manufacturers and US companies, the Nikkei Asia reported citing a government source.

The current share of the operating smartphone systems Apple iOS and Google Android makes up around 90 percent of the Japanese market.

According to the Japanese newspaper, if the panel uncovers any suspicious activity, Japan may toughen its antitrust regulations.

The European Commission launched an investigation last June to assess whether US tech giant Apple was violating EU antitrust rules for app developers on the distribution of their products through the App Store.

The probe concerned Apple`s own in-app shopping system was launched after complaints from music streaming apps and e-book distributors on the impact of App Store regulations on their streaming services.

As per the preliminary report by EU Commission, Apple hinders the free competition in the EU market in the field of music apps.