Apple is far from having finished with the European regulator. The European Commission is currently considering the possibility of imposing a severe fine on the computer manufacturer because of its anti-competitive practices in the App Store.
10% of annual turnover: this is the colossal sum that could be claimed from Apple by the European Commission as part of the regulator's investigation into the company's practices in the mobile applications market. According to Bloomberg, European authorities reportedly intend to fine the American groupalthough the potential penalty could be lower.
Spotify sets the tempo
In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with European justice: the Anglo-Swedish streaming service accused its competitor in the streaming sector of forcing it to raise the price of its Premium subscription to cover the costs associated with the control of the manufacturer on the App Store — in other words, an abuse of dominant position.
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In February, the Commission sided with the complainant, even though Apple for its part had won a small victory on in-app purchases. According to the regulator, the conditions put in place by the Apple firm are “ useless » and lead to higher prices for consumers. Apple, however, had opposed several relaxations in the very strict rules imposed on developers and publishers of streaming services.
Since last year, they have in fact been able to inform their users of the possibility of subscribing on the web rather than in the application, where subscriptions are more expensive. Likewise, developers can communicate with consumers by email to tell them that prices are lower online. Very weak concessions in Spotify's eyes.
It seems that the competition services of the European Commission, led again by Margrethe Vestager after her failed attempt to become boss of the European Investment Bank, are in agreement with the rival platform of Apple Music. In another file, the manufacturer would be ready to make a major concession to Brussels, by authorizing other banking services competing with Apple Pay to freely access the iPhone's NFC chip.
Read Apple would be ready to end the monopoly of Apple Pay on iPhone
Source :
Bloomberg