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Blix's criticism came amid Vestager's ongoing investigation into
Apple's App Store and mobile payment system Apple Pay as she
moves to curb the power of online gatekeepers on which thousands
of companies depend for business.
Blix previously sued Apple for excluding its BlueMail product
from the Mac app store, accusing the company of infringing its
patented technology and abusing its dominance in the app store.
Apple, which subsequently allowed BlueMail back in the digital
shop, had cited security issues for the exclusion.
"It is clear to us that Apple is not playing fair," Blix founder
Ben Volach wrote in a letter to Vestager seen by Reuters.
"In writing this letter, we are trying to dispel a misconception
perpetrated by Apple. The App Store is not a level playing
field; developers are not treated equally when they compete with
Apple's own apps. Our own experience bears this out," he said.
Volach urged Vestager, who will announce by the end of the year
tough new rules known as the Digital Services Act to make U.S.
tech giants play fair, to look deeper into Apple's actions.
"They mask Apple's ambition to fully control this essential
marketplace and distribution channel in order to maintain its
apps' dominance to its competitors' disadvantage," he said.
U.S. social media giant Facebook <FB.O> and Microsoft <MSFT.O>
recently voiced concerns about Apple's App Store rules, which
the European Commission said it was aware of.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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