Apple isn't taking Spotify's complaints about its "Apple tax" lying down. The tech company responded with its own lengthy rebuttal of the streaming service's complaints. Spotify filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming the Apple's App Store rules deliberately "limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience." The streaming service is complaining about the 30 percent "Apple tax" and that Apple is playing "both a player and referee" in its store.
Spotify thinks the heavily-criticized “Apple tax” is the company’s way of edging out its competition. It has taken to filing an antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Union. Spotify alleges that Apple is stifling innovation and limiting consumer choice with the rules it imposes on the App Store. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek zeroed in specifically on the 30 percent cut Apple imposes on subscriptions. According to Ek, this “tax” is designed to harm the streaming services that compete against Apple’s own service. Ek says it forces their company to “artificially inflate” prices “well above the price of Apple Music.” But if it doesn’t comply, then Apple applies “a series of technical and experience-limiting restrictions” against Spotify, which makes the experience on its app an inferior one. Ek adds that Apple “routinely blocks our experience-enhancing upgrades” and locks them and other competitors from Apple products and services like Siri, Apple Watch, andHomePod.
On top of launching the complaint, Spotify launched a press campaign that includes a dedicated website that focuses on Apple’s “unfairbehaviour” as well as a YouTube video (which you can see above) that explained the company’s grievances. We’re not sure what would come out of the complaint but a spokesperson for the European Commission acknowledged that it had received the complaint and is “assessing [it] under our standard procedures.”
Monday, March 18, 2019 at 10:36AM