Apple disadvantaged music streaming rivals like Spotify, EU says, setting showdown over App Store payment rules
- Apple’s App Store rules disadvantage competing music streaming services, European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Friday
- The move sets up another showdown between the smartphone giant and the EU four years after it was ordered to pay billions in back-taxes to Ireland
Apple got a European Union complaint over app payment rules, drawing one of the world’s toughest antitrust enforcers into a global battle over fees for downloads on smartphones and tablets.
The European Commission sent a so-called statement of objections to Apple on Friday, laying out how it thinks Apple abused its power as the key provider of music-streaming apps on its App Store. The case backs complaints from Spotify Technology, which accuses Apple of imposing its in-app purchase system to take a cut of its subscription fees.
“Apple is a gatekeeper to users of iPhones and iPads via the App Store,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a press release. “By setting strict rules on the App store that disadvantage competing music streaming services, Apple deprives users of cheaper music streaming choices and distorts competition.”
The move signals the start of another Apple showdown with Vestager, more than four years after she ordered the company to pay billions of dollars in back-taxes to Ireland. Apple’s regulatory woes have intensified in recent months as software developers criticise the levies Apple and Alphabet’s Google charge outside developers for using their digital distribution platforms.
Vestager took aim at Apple’s “high commission fees on each transaction in the App Store for rivals” and a ban on them “informing their customers of alternative subscription options”.