Spotify Pens Joint Letter Calling Apple 'Harmful' and 'Anti-Competitive,' Claims App Store Ruins Business - MacRumors

Spotify and 8 companies and associations person written a missive to the EU Commissioner for Competition calling Apple a harmful, anti-competitive, and monopolistic institution that indispensable beryllium regulated done "urgent action."

The letter, signed by the CEOs and heads of Basecamp, Deezer, Proton, Schibsted, Spotify, European Publishers Council (EPC), France Digitale, and News Media Europe, was sent to Margrethe Vestager of the EU. The missive urges the EU to instrumentality regulatory enactment and reason an ongoing probe triggered by Spotify against Apple’s app organisation practices.

The radical claims Apple's App Store has hindered their businesses and consistently makes it hard for them to turn owed to the platform's policies and its "capricious changes to presumption and conditions."

For years, Apple has imposed unfair restrictions connected our businesses. These restrictions hamper our improvement and harm European consumers. They see the tying of the App Store to Apple's proprietary outgo system, with its excessive commissions for app developers; the instauration of artificial obstacles that forestall our businesses from freely communicating with our customers; restrictions to developers' entree to information of their ain users; and capricious changes to presumption and conditions. Apple benefits from a monopoly presumption implicit its mobile ecosystem and extracts exorbitant rents from app developers who person nary prime but to stay connected the App Store to scope European consumers.

"The clip has travel for urgent enactment from the EU to extremity Apple's abusive behaviors," the missive says, citing the recently passed Digital Markets Act (DMA) and calling for its swift enforcement. "The EU has the accidental to instrumentality the lead, but it indispensable enactment fast, arsenic each time that passes is simply a nonaccomplishment for innovation and for the payment of European consumers," it continues.

In April 2021, the EU published the Commission's Statement of Objections against Apple, outlining its findings aft an probe of unfair ‌App Store‌ practices. In the statement, the EU said Apple "abused its ascendant presumption for the organisation of euphony streaming apps done its ‌App Store‌" and that it takes contented with the "mandatory usage of Apple's ain in-app acquisition mechanics imposed connected euphony streaming app developers to administer their apps." Now, the radical of companies claims these alleged wrongdoings are experienced by "countless different app providers" and not conscionable euphony streaming apps.

We truthful telephone for a accelerated determination successful the contention lawsuit against Apple for its illegal, anti-competitive behaviour involving euphony streaming services. Many of the anti-competitive behaviors described successful the Commission's Statement of Objections against Apple are felt not lone by euphony streaming services but by countless different app providers who privation to connection goods and services via the iOS App Store. That Statement of Objections is astir 2 years aged and the abuses and user harm volition proceed until a remedy is enforced. Beyond the circumstantial App Store case, the EU authorities urgently request to look astatine Apple's abusive behaviour successful different areas arsenic well, specified arsenic publishing, web software, communications, and marketplaces.

Apple has been repeatedly accused of unfair and anti-competitive concern practices successful its ‌App Store‌, with Spotify being 1 of the astir vocal critics. In October, Spotify published a property release accusing Apple of damaging "Spotify's and different developers' abilities to supply a seamless idiosyncratic experience" and stated these restrictions "hurt some creators and consumers alike."

Although Spotify has been vocal astir its disapproval of Apple's ‌App Store‌, the euphony streaming work has neglected wide requests to adhd HomePod enactment to its app, contempt galore of its competitors doing so. As a result, some Spotify customers person switched to different platforms, specified arsenic Apple Music. In an autarkic blog post connected its website this week, Spotify said, "Apple has been enabled by the deficiency of decisive enactment by regulators, who proceed to determination hesitantly, adjacent successful the look of a groundswell of support."