US competition regulators are likely to open a preliminary investigation into whether Apple's actions stifle competition in mobile devices, people familiar with the situation told the Wall Street Journal. The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are holding discussions over which agency would hold the inquiry, these people said. Apple, the FTC and Justice Department all declined to comment. The paper's sources said the interest from regulators was triggered by complaints from Apple competitors and application developers over the terms of the company's agreement with iPhone and iPad app developers. Apple recently revised the terms to forbid developers from using software tools other than Apple's to build their programmes. It also banned apps from transmitting certain technical iPhone data to third parties.
