It’s time. After months of construction, the European Commission is going to take legal action against Apple. The reason? Apple is abusing its monopoly in the App Store in violation of European law.
Final: European Commission sues Apple
According to Margrethe Vestager (pictured above), Vice President of the European Commission, Apple is wearing two hats. “Apple Music competes with other music services in the App Store, but these services have to pay a commission to Apple,” writes Vestager.
Apple’s rules also prohibit competing apps from informing customers about alternative payment methods. Apple is disrupting the market with this, with the consumer as the big loser. ”
The European ruling is a first step towards a possible fine for Apple. The company may also be imposed other consequences.
The cause: Spotify versus Apple
The legal process started in 2019. Then Spotify, a direct competitor of Apple Music, filed suit with the European Commission. According to Spotify, Apple is charging too much money for subscriptions taken out through their app for iPhones.
The music service must pay 15 to 30 percent of its turnover to Apple and may not ask customers to directly subscribe to Spotify. The company would also have different rules for competitors to promote its own apps.
In conversation with TechCrunch Apple says Spotify pays commission on only 1 percent of its subscribers. The rest of the subscribers would pay directly to Spotify.
“Spotify demands that they can point customers to their own subscriptions via the iOS app, but no store in the world would allow this,” said Apple. The company also writes that Spotify is taking all the benefits of the Apple Store without wanting to contribute to it.
Also interesting: How Apple’s new services are sharpening relationships with competitors
The latest news about Apple:
-
Apple’s next-generation M2 chip is already in mass production
-
Opinion: the new iPad Pro is crying out for macOS
-
‘European Commission is suing Apple this week for abuse of power’
-
Magic Keyboard 2021 FAQ: 8 Things You Should Know
-
Round-up: This is what international media think of Apple’s AirTag