Apple in Breach of EU Competition Law, European Commission Finds

Apple has been found to be in breach of EU competition law with Apple Music, according to the preliminary findings of the European Commission. The charges relate to a two-year-old antitrust dispute initiated by Spotify.

European Commisssion
The European Commission was expected to bring charges against Apple over concerns that its App Store rules break EU competition law this week, and ahead of a formal verdict, Margrethe Vestager, the EU's digital competition chief tweeted the preliminary findings of the commission:

Apple has been formally told of the conclusion, according to an EU Commission press release.

In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Apple enforces ‌App Store‌ rules that "purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience," accusing the company of "acting as both a player and referee to deliberately disadvantage other app developers."

Spotify highlighted that Apple's 30 percent commission on ‌‌App Store‌‌ purchases, including in-app subscriptions, forces the music streaming service to charge existing subscribers $12.99 per month for its Premium plan on the ‌‌App Store‌‌, just to collect the $9.99 per month it usually charges.

Spotify argues this gives Apple an unfair advantage because it's unable to compete with ‌Apple Music‌'s standard $9.99 per month price within the ‌‌‌App Store‌‌‌.

If Spotify chooses not to collect payments via the ‌‌‌App Store‌‌‌, Apple purportedly "applies a series of technical and experience-limiting restrictions" on the company. It was also said that Apple was "locking Spotify and other competitors out of Apple services such as Siri, HomePod, and Apple Watch," thereby making ‌‌Apple Music‌‌ a more attractive option for subscribers.

The EU is expected to issue Apple with a charge sheet before the summer. It is not yet known what exactly the EU's sanctions could involve, but it has been suggested that Apple could be forced to pay a fine or make changes to its ‌‌App Store‌‌ business model in Europe to foster greater competition.

The Spotify antitrust case is one of several opened by the European Commission into Apple's business practices in June last year. Apple has denied allegations of anti-competitive behavior, and said at the time of Spotify's complaint that its rival was using "its financial motivations in misleading rhetoric."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

vagos Avatar
38 months ago
The EU is right on this one. Time for Apple to change.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bollman Avatar
38 months ago
This is easily fixed by Apple: allow Spotify to link to their website for payment.
I’d like apple to explain how that would be a bad thing.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DinkThifferent Avatar
38 months ago
Well record companies also had to pay music stores to have their cd's displayed... A-brand cornflakes is also payed for by the manufacturer to be displayed on the shelf next to the Walmart cornflakes.

You can subscribe to Spotify through their website.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
diamond3 Avatar
38 months ago
Isn’t there always going to be some advantage? What’s the solution? Because Apple has their own service, they can’t charge Spotify a fee to put their service on the App Store?

Where does this end? I’m in the position that Apple should have an advantage because they created the platform.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheMacDaddy1 Avatar
38 months ago

The EU is right on this one. Time for Apple to change.
Or figure out how Netflix is so successful on the App store. All payments to my Netflix account do not go through Apple and yet I watch Netflix content exclusively on Apple devices. My Kindle app on my iPad is full of books I never bought through Apple either. I would assume that most Spotify customers would do the same, sign up on the website and then use the apps on various platforms.

At most Apple should make it easier for you to jump from the app to a website to pay for Spotify.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JustMartin Avatar
38 months ago
It's ironic that Spotify are complaining about losing money when they've been gouging musicians for years.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...