Reuters:
Spotify has filed a complaint with EU antitrust regulators against Apple, saying the iPhone maker unfairly limits rivals to its own Apple Music streaming service.
Central to Spotify’s complaint, filed to the European Commission on Monday, is what it says is a 30 percent fee Apple charges content-based service providers to use Apple’s in-app purchase system (IAP).
This could get ugly.
The real lesson here is “never do business in the EU”.
(“Apple wants a cut of things that use its services and our customers won’t use other payemtn systems and we’re mad!!”
Go to hell, Spotify. You already suck and your ads make me hate you rather than want to pay for Premium.)
How does Apple have any responsibility to help Spotify make money? It’s Apple’s store.
If Apple had anything like a monopoly in the music streaming business I’d say they might have a point. But the way Spotify rips off artists?
Screw ’em.
In other news, Lee Jeans complains that Levis still refuses to sell Lee products in its retail locations. We’ll have more on this story as it fails to develop.
shallow analysis from the fanboys. This has real implications for all involved and Apple is certainly and deservedly under scrutiny about this.
Read the details before you all bow to the altar of Jobs.
More accurately, Apple wants a cut of things through its services and won’t allow Spotify to point to alternative payment services so that they can pay a more competitive rate.
Well, AFAIK Apple doesn’t stop Spotify from saying “Sign up for Premium here on our website or via PayPal we’ll open in a browser!”.
Spotify just doesn’t want that because users are lazy and won’t do that.
They want both the convenience of in-app payment AND getting around Apple’s cut.
Apple can and should tell them to pound sand, and the EU should be told the same.
I notice only assertion, not argument.
What implications? Why should we give them moral weight? Deservedly, why?
(Jobs? He’s dead.
“Apple is religion lulz!!!” … yeah, it’s not 1997. Are you gonna say “M$” next?)
You’re incorrect, they do block that. If you have a link to a payment page in your app or use a stored card on file for digital goods, Apple will block it. Spotify needs you to, of your own volition, go to their mobile web site and enter your details. This does not apply for physical goods, like in Uber. This leads to weird situations where you can use you stored payment credentials to buy physical DVDs and books in the Amazon app, but you cannot use the Amazon app to by Prime Video or ebooks. It’s clearly a case of Apple using their control of the App Store rules to give their own digital services a competitive boost.