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With the European Commission set to ruleon Spotify ’s complaintfocused on competition in the streaming medicine grocery , there are hints that the ruling will not be in Apple ’s favor . This calendar week , theFinancial Times reportedthe EC will issue its first - ever fine against the tech giant for allegedly breaking EU natural law over competition in the rain cats and dogs music securities industry . The fine is expected to be around € 500 million ( about $ 539 million USD ) , the story noted .
alternatively of chalking up the amercement as the monetary value of doing patronage , as a company that made account as thefirst to be appreciate at $ 3 trillionsurely could , the technical school behemoth is taking the scrap to the public .
In a financial statement shared with metier today , Apple reason against the idea that Spotify has been harmed by any anticompetitive practices on its part . ( The statement was not issued by a unmarried voice , but rather comes from Apple itself ) . It take :
We ’re happy to suffer the success of all developers — including Spotify , which is the declamatory music streaming app in the humans . Spotify pays Apple nothing for the services that have helped them establish , update , and share their app with Apple exploiter in 160 commonwealth spanning the globe . Fundamentally , their ill is about hear to get unbounded access to all of Apple ’s tools without paying anything for the value Apple provides .
Apple pointed out also that Spotify has a 56 % share of the market , compared with 20 % for Amazon Music and Apple Music ’s 11 % , perMIDiA ’s 2022 reporton the subscription euphony market .
In addition , Apple shared a number of non - public details about Spotify ’s clientele , as it pertains to Apple ’s platforms , including , for model , that Spotify expend thousands of Apple ’s APIs across 60 framework ; that Spotify uses Apple ’s beta testing platform TestFlight ; that Spotify has submitted over 420 versions of its app to App Review , which were O.K. ; and even that Apple engine driver have avail Spotify resolve various challenge , like those impacting computer hardware - accelerated media playback and electric battery optimization .
And , for those number spectator out there , Apple also say that Spotify ’s app had been download , re - downloaded or updated more than 119 billion times across Apple devices — a stat we had not heard before , we should remark .
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The fact that Apple is front - running the EC ’s conclusion with its own comment is noteworthy , in and of itself .
It speaks to a company that so solidly believes that it ’s doing the best thing for its own customers and developer partners that any sort of ruling that deems otherwise is so derisory that it demands comment and pushback . Apple believe its arrangement of in - app purchase for thing like music subscription saves consumer not only the headache and inconvenience of having to visit outside websites on the iPhone ’s low screen — they can just click the side release instead — but also protects against fake , extra data point collection , consumer discombobulation over cancellations and errant leverage by minor . ( Of course , Appleisfamiliarwiththelatteritself . )
Apple believes that Spotify only wants to increase its profits , by leverage regulations to its vantage . In the typesetter’s case of the EU ailment , the concern is that Apple ’s App Store distorts contention in the music cyclosis market . It is not exclusively a complaint that Spotify has been harm , in other words , but that the nature of the App Store may have thwarted other contender .
“ Spotify is a big thespian in the medicine streaming market but we do n’t get laid what would have been the conditions without this , ” EVP and contention chief Margrethe Vestager said about the EC ’s investigationback in 2021 . “ There are other rivals to Apple Music — there are Deezer , there are Soundcloud . Smaller competitors and here we have real concerns about their developments . This is not a Spotify vitrine — this is a music stream case , ” she noted .
Spotify , however , has been the loud of the Apple Music challenger and has fight against the companionship on other matters , for representative bycalling Apple ’s newfangled DMA rules“extortion ” and a “ complete and full travesty . ”
To protect its interests ( and , Apple argues , consumer ) , Apple ’s response to the EU ’s DMA ( Digital Markets Act ) regulation is the unveiling of a new organisation that requires developers to pay for its servicing beyond just App Store payment processing . Rather , it now break payment processing from other servicesby levy a “ Core Technology Fee”for those developer who need to do business under the new DMA convention . In other words , it wants developer to pay Apple for the study it does to create and observe its iOS platform , where apps can flow , rather than notice that memory access to consumer ’ favorite apps helps sell its iPhones .
However , Apple seems to disregard the fact that Spotifyturning a quarterly profitstill makes headlines , that itjust lay off 17 % of its men , and that , you eff , Spotify does face contention on iOS globally from Apple Music , which is preinstalled on iPhones , iPads and other Apple twist . In improver to being offered as a standalone service of process , Apple ’s euphony streaming app is upsold to customers as partof the Apple One big bucks , which merge multiple Apple services , like iCloud+ , News+ , Apple TV+ and others , under one cap .
Apple also accent how closely Spotify has worked with the Commission on its complaint , having forgather with the regulator more than 65 times since the investigation began . The investigation , however , has been on-going for years .
A rep for the EC pass up to remark on news colligate to Spotify ’s complaint or any pending fines . The FT had reported the fine is expect to be announced early next month .
Spotify responded to Apple ’s command with one of its own , saying :
extra reporting : Natasha Lomas ; update 2/22/24 5:54 PM with Spotify argument .
Europe charges Apple with antitrust breach , citing Spotify App Store ill
