Apple is expected to face anti competitive charges by the European Commission later this week. The news arrives over concerns that its the company’s App Store would break EU competition law.
According to a FinancialTimes report (Via MacRumors), the charges are regarding a two year old antitrust dispute with Spotify, the popular music streaming platform. For those unaware, Spotify filed a complaint back in 2019 with the European Commission alleged that the Cupertino based giant enforced 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 had even accused the iPhone maker takes a 30 percent commission on every App Store purchase. This includes in app subscriptions, which forced the music streaming service to charge existing subscribers 12.99 US Dollars per month for its Premium plan on the store just to collect 9.99 US Dollars per month for its usual charges. The app is also arguing that the tech giant is abusing its unfair advantage since it is unable to compete with its own music streaming platform, Apple Music.
Notably, the antitrust case from Spotify is just one of several charges opened by the European Commission into Apple’s business practices since June 2020. Just last month, EU regulators were in the process of finalizing a charge sheet against the company in relation to Spotify’s antitrust complaint. Meanwhile, Apple has denied allegations of anti competitive behavior and stated that its rival Spotify was using “its financial motivations in misleading rhetoric.”
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