Apple released a statement following the European Commission’s decision to fine Apple €1.8 billion for anti-competitive practices in the music streaming market on the App Store, as complained by Spotify. Apple stated that the biggest beneficiary of this ruling is Spotify, a music streaming giant based in Sweden, which has met with the European Commission up to 65 times during the investigation.
In Europe, Spotify holds a 56% market share, almost double that of its closest competitor. While Apple has never received compensation from Spotify, Spotify’s success is partly due to the tools and services provided by Apple that allow access to users worldwide.
Apple also revealed the figures of Spotify’s usage on their platform, where Spotify does not pay any compensation to Apple, including access to APIs, device linking tools, TestFlight with over 500 versions, and the app approval process for 421 versions, and more.
Since 2022, App Store has added terms allowing Reader apps to insert links for external payments, a feature that Spotify can also utilize; however, Spotify chose not to do so as they seek more extensive rule changes. They aim to insert membership prices within the app without using Apple’s payment system, despite utilizing Apple’s technologies. Apple concludes that Spotify does not fully understand their platform requirements.
Apple asserts that the European Commission lacks sufficient evidence to show that the situation poses a danger to consumers when consumers have choices in a growing market. Spotify remains a market leader, and there is no evidence of Apple obstructing competition. Apple is prepared to defend against the European Commission’s claims moving forward.
TLDR: Apple responds to the European Commission’s ruling, stating that Spotify benefits most and the lack of evidence supporting anti-competitive behavior. Apple is ready to challenge the claims made by the European Commission.
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