Apple faces big lawsuit in Europe

Those crazy Dutch are at it again!

After fining Apple 5 million euros ($5.7 million) a week -- to the tune of 50 million euros ($57 million) so far, with no sign of letting up -- regulators in the Netherlands have now launched a multibillion-euro lawsuit targeting the App Store.

Dutch regulators say the App Store is an illegal monopoly that has been overcharging consumers by billions of dollars.

It's interesting that Apple faces such scrutiny in Europe, while U.S. lawmakers remain largely hands-off.

In addition to the Dutch actions, European lawmakers are drafting the Digital Markets Act, which would force giants like Apple and Google to open their platforms to alternative app stores and payment methods, among other things.

European lawmakers argue that such sweeping legislation is necessary to provide oversight to massive global companies that are too powerful to care about consumers.

Meanwhile, in the United States -- crickets.

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

The Netherlands accuses Apple of “market dominance,” “anti-competitive practices” and gouging App Store users for apps and in-app subscriptions. The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation says Cupertino has been able to charge “excessively high prices” by excluding all competition and then abusing its “monopoly position.”

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One more thing ...

“You know who the best managers are? They’re the great individual contributors, who never ever want to be a manager, but decide they have to be manager because no one else is going to be able to do as good a job as them.” -- Steve Jobs

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