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Despite evidence that Apple has collaborated with Spotify and other competitors, Apple appears to be waiting for the European Commission to rule v. company based on a study of a music competition.
The European Commission is investigating Apple and its treatment of rival developers such as Spotify. The investigation could lead to a fine of 500 million euros and additional regulation of how Apple does business with its products and the App Store.
According to information provided to AppleInsider by Apple, the company is concerned that the European Commission (EC) will rule in favor of Spotify and give it even more control over the streaming market. Apple claims that after ten years of investigations, the EC has been unable to find anything to prove Apple has caused consumer harm or anti-competitive behavior.
Spotify pays zero commission to Apple thanks to its reader app status and has access to many Apple technologies for $100 per year per developer. Its apps work with thousands of Apple APIs on more than 60 platforms.
Despite this, Spotify wants even more control over iOS to further increase its profits. Spotify's latest attempt to win a favorable EU ruling is based on an attack on Apple's anti-circumvention rules.
Apple provided AppleInsider with a statement on the matter:
“We are excited to support the success of all developers, including Spotify, the largest music streaming app in the world.” Spotify pays nothing to Apple for the services that have helped them create, update and share their app with Apple users in 160 countries around the world. Essentially, their complaint is about trying to get unlimited access to all of Apple's tools without paying anything. for the value that Apple provides.”
Spotify's achievement since 2013 is unprecedented, meeting with the EU at least 65 times. His arguments paint himself as an outsider, but the numbers show otherwise.
Apple Music has just 11% of the EU streaming market, while Spotify dominates with a 56% share. Apple is the fourth most popular streamer after Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube Music.
Apple believes there is no evidence of anticompetitive behavior or harm to consumers. Consumers have plenty of choice and the streaming market is booming.
Another argument is that customers don't know how to subscribe to music services outside of the app. This argument doesn't seem to hold any weight as Spotify has been growing over the last decade, even before Apple introduced new App Store rules.
Spotify can and does email customers directly with offers for premium plans. The company has yet to take advantage of the app's external subscriptions link, but it is considered a reading app, so account creation and subscription can happen outside of the iPhone app.
The European Commission has not yet made a decision, but it is clear that Apple is expecting a decision in favor of Spotify. What this means for Apple's existing business model remains questionable.
