Dutch MPs have recently questioned the dominance of Apple on the market of digital subscriptions to magazines and newspapers in The Netherlands. At home in the US, Apple's competitors try are taking over the App Store concept. It is often more difficult to remain at the top than to gain the lead, Apple is going to experience how difficult.

MPs of the liberal VVD party have asked the Minister of Economic Affairs to make sure that the Dutch Competition Authority (NMa) will investigate whether Apple is guilty of abuse of a dominant market position. The MPs also suggested to ask European Commissioner Neelie Kroes of Digital Agenda to get involved in what they call a policy that disturbes the market for content on tablet computers. Apple is said to force upon publishers that they can only sell subscriptions for their digital content to iPad users via Apple. 

The parliamentary questions were sparked by Apple’s announcement that they will engage in a more strict regime of  enforcing the contractual rules for publishing content for the iPad tablet computer. Publishers may only offer subscriptions to the iPad editions of their newspapers or magazines through Apple's App Store. Until now, that rule applied only to single copies of a magazine. Apple collects 30 percent of the revenue when a loose magazine is purchased in the App Store.

The MPs said that it is highly undesirable that Apple, as a foreign company, is automatically involved in a relationship between a Dutch publisher and a local consumer.

This recent discussion shows that the absolute power of Apple in the area of iPhones, iPads and related applications makes many Dutch stakeholders grow weary and results in increased criticism. Also in the U.S., Apple has to cope with more resistance as regards to their influential position.

A recent sign of protest was about the use of the name App Store. In 2008, just before the release of their App Store, Apple had filed an application to the US Patent and Trademark Office to claim the exclusive use of the name “App Store”. As the application process has not yet been completed, Microsoft used the opportunity to file an official protest against the registration of App Store as a protected trade mark.

The Financial Times reported this week that Microsoft argue that app store has become a well established and generic name for a service that many other companies offer.

Since companies Palm, Nokia, Research in Motion, Samsung, Google and of course Microsoft itself, run app stores, it would be unreasonable to imagine that Apple has the exclusive right to use the word “app store”.

Although the possible loss of the word App Store and the recent intervention by the Dutch parliament will probably be a blow to Apple's confidence, Apple has not yet commented on these issues. 

Sources: Nu.nl,  Financial Times