Why the EU Antitrust is still biting Apple
Antitrust accuses Apple of imposing its payment technology for in-app purchases and limiting the ability to inform iPhone and iPad users of the existence of alternative music services at lower prices
The EU Antitrust continues to nibble Apple for its market practices in the streaming music sector: the investigation started in 2021 following a complaint dating back to 2019 and forwarded by the Swedish rival Spotify which claimed that the Californian company did unfair use of its storefront to promote its Apple Music service to the detriment of competitors. But let's go in order, starting from the latest developments.
THE EU ANTITRUST AUTHORITY WRITES TO APPLE
The story has had a further evolution in the last few hours: the offices of the EU vice president Margrethe Vestager have forwarded to the Cupertino house the communication of a series of charges on what is indicated as a strategy to prevent users on the App Store from obtaining information transparent about rival music subscription options like Spotify, but also Deezer and SoundCloud.
WHAT IS CONTESTED
In fact, the Community Antitrust accuses Apple of abusing its dominant position: the accusing thesis claims that it first of all imposed its payment technology for in-app purchases on music streaming app developers, limiting the ability of app developers to inform iPhone and iPad users about alternative, lower priced subscription music services outside of the app. The EU Antitrust believes that Apple's conduct constitutes "unfair commercial conditions".
With reference to the obligations imposed by Apple on the developers of music streaming apps, according to the Commission they would not be "neither necessary nor proportionate" to such an extent as to be "harmful for users of music streaming services on Apple's mobile devices, who could have the disadvantage of paying more", explained the EU Commission, adding that "they negatively affect the interests of music streaming app developers, limiting the effective choice of consumers".
APPLE RESPONDS TO THE ANTITRUST
Apple, for its part, has already said it will respond to Spotify's allegations that prompted further requests from the EU regulator. (also read: Here's how Apple infuriated Meta (Facebook) and Spotify )
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia-on-demand/perche-lantitrust-ue-addenta-ancora-apple/ on Wed, 01 Mar 2023 09:55:38 +0000.