Apple has announced that it will appeal the historic €1.84 billion fine issued today by the European Commission for Apple's anti-competitive conduct in the streaming music market. In a post to its Newsroom, Apple called Stockholm, Sweden-based company Spotify the “main champion” and “biggest beneficiary” of the EC's decision, saying the streamer had a 56% share in the European streaming music market. % share of the market.
The Cupertino-based tech giant had already published its position on Spotify in the days leading up to the EC's ruling, saying that Spotify's lawsuit was “an attempt to gain free and unlimited access to all of Apple's tools”. He said it was about.
Apple also previously shared various non-public details about Spotify's business on Apple's platforms, noting that the streamer accessed “thousands of Apple's APIs across 60 frameworks.” Tested the app using Apple's Testflight platform. Submit 420 or more versions of your app to Apple's app review. The app has been redownloaded or updated more than 119 billion times across his Apple devices.
In its response to today's EC fine, Apple points to the scale of Spotify's business, and the size of the European digital music market as a whole. The market had about 160 million subscribers as of last year, up from 25 million in 2015.
Apple reiterated that Spotify doesn't pay Apple anything in terms of App Store fees because it only sells subscriptions on Apple's website. This gets to the heart of Spotify's complaint. Spotify would like to communicate with customers about these subscriptions, as well as other promotions and discounts, from within the iOS app. Apple's longstanding anti-steering rules had largely prevented this, but in his 2022, Apple introduced an exception for “reader apps” like Streamer, allowing apps to link users to their websites. I made it. However, Apple is still responsible for approving who can implement this exception as a means of controlling the situation, rather than simply updating the rules to openly allow linking.
Apple says Spotify did not take advantage of the reader app exception, but rather “wanted to bend the rules in their favor by embedding subscription prices in their apps without using the App Store's in-app purchase system.” “We believe that,” the statement said.
“They want to use Apple's tools and technology, distribute it in the App Store, and benefit from the trust we have built with our users. And they don't want to pay Apple anything for it.” says. “The bottom line is that Spotify wants more.”
While Apple respects the European Commission, the facts do not support this decision and “as a result, Apple will appeal.”
“Every day, Apple's teams work to make that dream a reality,” Apple wrote. “We do that by making the App Store the safest and best experience for our users. We do it by giving developers the means to create great apps. Above all, we do this because apps have the incredible ability to empower people and drive innovation that enriches lives.”