In mid-March, Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission. This event was the apogee of the "undercover struggle" that the two companies have been waging for a long time.
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A series of reproaches
According to the streaming service, the corporation discriminates against the applications of other companies to promote Apple Music. The full text of the EU complaint is not available, but Spotify has launched a website called - "Time to play fair" - which indicated the main claims against the apple corporation. Here are some of them:
Discriminatory tax. Application developers for the App Store pay a commission on every purchase that users make within the service (the so-called In-App Purchases). However, not everyone pays the fee. For example, the rule does not apply to Uber and Deliveroo, but does apply to Spotify and some other streaming services.
Founder of Spotify in an open letter that subscriptions to premium accounts are also subject to a fee. As a result, the company is forced to increase their value.
Communication barriers. Under App Store rules, companies can opt out of Apple's payment infrastructure. But then they lose the opportunity to send notifications about promotions and special offers to their users.
Damage to UX. Spotify customers cannot purchase a premium subscription within the app. To complete the purchase, they have to complete it in the browser.
Difficulty updating applications. If the App Store decides that an update for a third-party app doesn't meet any requirements, it's rejected. As a result, users miss out on important innovations.
closed ecosystem. As determined by Apple, the Spotify app cannot be run on HomePods. In addition, Siri services are not integrated into Spotify - again, at the decision of the apple giant.
In response to Apple's accusations answer. In it, representatives of the IT giant denied Spotify's claims. In particular, they said that the App Store has never specifically prevented updates to the streaming platform, and work is underway to integrate Spotify with Siri.
The conflict of companies has caused a stormy in social networks among application developers. Some of them sided with Spotify. In their opinion, a number of App Store rules do prevent healthy competition. Others felt that the truth is on the side of Apple, since the company provides developers with its infrastructure and has the right to receive money for it.
The history of the conflict between Apple and Spotify
The conflict between the two companies has been going on since 2011. That's when Apple 30% fee for in-app subscription sales. A number of streaming services immediately opposed the innovation. Rhapsody possible withdrawal from the App Store, and Spotify has abandoned In-App Purchases. But representatives of the latter say that Apple used various methods to force the company to integrate into the payment infrastructure. Spotify gave up in 2014 and they raise the cost of a subscription for iOS users.
In the same year Apple audio equipment manufacturer Beats Electronics and Beats Music, and a year later, the corporation launched its own streaming service. , before its release, the IT giant urged major music labels to "put pressure" on other streaming services. This case even attracted the attention of the Department of Justice and the US Federal Trade Commission.
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The conflict continued a year later. In May 2016, Spotify once again dropped In-App Purchases. In response to this App Store new version of the Spotify app. In 2017 Spotify, Deezer and several other companies the first complaint to the EU competition authority against platforms that "abuse their privileged position". The complaint did not mention the name of the IT giant, but from the context it followed that it was about him.
In the fall of that year, Spotify and Deezer letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission (EU). In it, they talked about the difficulties that large international corporations create for smaller organizations. Nothing is known about Juncker's response to date.
Other cases
In November 2018, the US Supreme Court heard a lawsuit filed by a group of iPhone users back in 2011. It says that Apple violated federal antitrust laws with the imposition of a 30 percent developer fee. However, the case is far from over and it may be returned for consideration in the first instance.
This year, Kaspersky Lab a complaint against Apple to the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia. The App Store demanded that the functionality of the parental control app be restricted. Experts linked this requirement to the fact that last year Apple similar application.
It is not yet known how the current conflict between Spotify and Apple will end. The European Commission will stop its investigation if the IT giant proves that it has the right to set different conditions for streaming services. But experts suggest that the consideration of the case will be delayed. Similar situation with Novell's complaint against Microsoft: the lawsuit was filed in 2004, and the case was closed only in 2012.
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Source: habr.com