Apple is allegedly stopping Spotify from competing with Apple Music by blocking the streaming service’s latest iOS app update from the App Store.
Spotify sent Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell a letter this week claiming that Cupertino is inflicting great harm on its streaming music competitor (and Spotify’s customers) by not allowing Spotify to use its own billing system for subscriptions.
“This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U.S. and EU competition law,” Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez wrote in a letter obtained by Recode.
“It continues a troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music, particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple’s previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify…. We cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors.”
Apple’s anti-competitive practices on the App Store incurred the wrath of Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a speech yesterday in Washington, D.C. She accused the company of using its control of iOS to squash music competitors like Spotify.
Spotify’s letter claims Apple rejected the new app update because it broke the company’s business model rules that prohibit third-party apps from using their own billing system to acquire new customers and sell subscriptions.
Because Apple takes a 30 percent cut of all subscriptions, Spotify charges iOS users an extra $3 a month to make up the difference. When iOS 10 launches this fall, Apple will only take 15 percent of monthly subscription revenues, but only after a users have subscribed to that service for 12 months.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
7 responses to “Spotify accuses Apple of blocking app update”
Am I allowed to type “go fuck yourself” on this forum? If so, go fuck yourself, Spotify.
To Spotify: Stop complaining about Apple already. You took the risk of building your entire business off of their App Store and now they’re your competition. Take a business 101 class for more information. To Ben: You should keep the exaggerations to yourself.
Someone enlighten me here. Is apple even required to approve any app? I mean, it’s Apple’s OS, it’s their phone, it’s their “store.” Of course they’re going to want a significant cut of a competing product. It’s not as if Apple is blocking people from using Spotify on Safari. If Walmart choses to sell a product in their store, they can set the terms, right?
It is no different from Walmart choosing not to sell a particular product. Their store, their rules. Of course, Spotify’s PR machine can put pressure on Apple, as can their user base, but at the end of the day, Apple is the sole arbitrator of what makes it into the App Store.
Apple’s policy has been the same for years, and NOW when Spotify is feeling the heat, they decide to break the rules intentionally and they cry wolf that Apple is holding them back via App review. They do realize that they can get people to sign up on the website and log in via the app without any money going to Apple. Right? I’m so sick and tired of companies giving their crap away for free, claiming they’re taking over the world, and then when they try to monetize and actually make money it’s boo hoo hoo hoo hoo.
This is Apple. When the company can’t level up your services, tries remove other competitors.
Clearly, subscribing via the App Store has been beneficial to Spotify, otherwise they’d just redirect you to their website to create your account and get a subscription, and then go back to the app to have you log in.