EU regulators team with FTC for Apple antitrust probe

European regulators have joined the Federal Trade Commission's ongoing antitrust probe to determine whether Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone Developer Program License Agreement threatens competition by forcing developers to focus on one platform to the exclusion of others. The New York Post reports the European Commission recently joined the FTC investigation in the wake of adopting a new Digital Agenda aimed at fostering technology interoperability--a source indicates the inquiry could extend another four to six months. The FTC, European Commission and Apple all declined comment.

The FTC launched its antitrust investigation this spring, weeks after Apple rewrote its iPhone Developer Program License Agreement to mandate that all iPhone and iPod touch applications must be written to run directly on the iPhone platform, effectively banning cross-compiler translation tools like Adobe Systems' Flash Professional CS5. The change was perceived in many quarters as a direct attack on Adobe--Apple CEO Steve Jobs has both publicly and privately stated his distaste for the Flash multimedia platform. Adobe has since announced it will cease investment on solutions targeting the iPhone platform. In addition, the FTC is reportedly investigating whether Apple's fledgling iAd mobile advertising network unfairly restricts rivals like Google from extending their own mobile marketing efforts across the iPhone platform.

For more on the Apple investigation:
- read this New York Post article

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