Apple is accused by Spotify of hindering its budding Audiobook Industry
Apple keeps giving itself unfair advantages at every opportunity.
In a blog post, Spotify claimed that Apple's "anticompetitive" actions are hurting the nascent industry. The company only started selling audiobooks last month with 300,000 titles. It claimed that Apple had rejected their audiobook ordering system three times as a result of a rule infraction. In order to comply, it had to disguise the audiobooks' cost and conduct sales through an email link instead of through the main app.
Due to the difficulty of people comparing pricing, all of this makes it more difficult for Spotify to compete." This hurts not only consumers but authors and publishers as well, who are now under Apple's control." Additionally, it is very annoying for customers accustomed to buying audiobooks by just clicking on a link.
According to Apple, Spotify's audiobooks would have been accepted with ease if the firm had adhered to the App Store's guidelines. An Apple representative said, We gave them explicit instructions on how to fix the problem and approved their app once they made improvements that brought it into compliance.
Spotify could have offered its audiobooks for sale through the App Store's payment system, but Apple would then take a 30 percent share, significantly undercutting Spotify's audiobooks compared to Apple Books. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek stated that Applehas once again demonstrated how brazen it was ready to be with its App Store policies, consistently moving the goalposts to disadvantage its rivals.
With Apple over music subscriptions, Spotify is already at odds with Apple, claiming that its 30% commission hurts customers. Although it has concluded that Apple may have violated EU rules, the European Commission has not yet made its final determination and has instead given Apple with a Statement of Objections. "almost four years That much time has passed since Spotify complained to the European Commission about Apple, and we are still awaiting a response "said Ek.
The App Store is at the centre of Apple's goal to transition from a business based on the selling of devices to one based on the sale of software and services. According to testimony and papers reviewed as part of an antitrust case filed by Epic Games, the store has no overhead and generates profits of about 80% of the estimated $24 billion in yearly sales from the 30% fees it receives.
Apple claims that Spotify and other apps have been successful because of the distribution it offers across billions of iPhones and iPads. It claims that utilizing its payment method for software purchases safeguards customers against fraud and maintains the security of the App Store. A representative pointed out that earlier this year, the British antitrust authorities chose not to look into any competition problems in the music streaming industry.
