Eu to investigate Spotifys claims of Apple enforcing biased App Store policies: Report

Spotify recently filed a legal complaint against Apple in the EU for imposing unfair Apple Tax and laws on competitive apps that are a part of the App Store. Apple responded by saying that Spotify is leaving out facts that Apple’s fee for use of the secure in-app purchase servers is down to 15 percent after the first year of use, from 30. It seems that the EU competition commissioners have decided to launch an anti-trust investigation into Spotify’s allegations that Apple abuses its App Store regulations to hinder Spotify and other music streaming apps that compete with Apple Music. Financial Times’ sources say that the investigation would commence in the "next few weeks." 

The EU commission is expected to look into Spotify’s claims that Apple discriminates Spotify and other similar services. A developer is charged 30 percent of their apps’ subscription fee for the first year and 15 percent for the second year. Spotify blamed Apple’s cut for the reason it had to ‘artificially inflate’ the price of its Premium membership to make up for the lost revenue. This would make its services cost more than competing services like Apple Music. Additionally, the music streaming platform claimed that Apple blocks its “experience-enhancing upgrades. Over time, this has included locking Spotify and other competitors out of Apple services such as Siri, HomePod, and Apple Watch.” 

Spotify has a website called Time to Play Fair that lists how Apple’s alleged anti-competitive rules keep Spotify at a disadvantage. The company summarises its wants in three points, “First, apps should be able to compete fairly on the merits, and not based on who owns the App Store. We should all be subject to the same fair set of rules and restrictions—including Apple Music. Second, consumers should have a real choice of payment systems, and not be “locked in” or forced to use systems with discriminatory tariffs such as Apple’s. Finally, app stores should not be allowed to control the communications between services and users, including placing unfair restrictions on marketing and promotions that benefit consumers.”

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