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EU: APPLE IS A MONOPOLY
The European Commission issued a formal 'statement of objections' against Apple this week, saying that its preliminary view is Apple's app store rules distort competition in the market for music streaming services by raising the costs of competing music streaming app developers. A big deal in the EU (fines - although still pittance to Apple), but possibly more of an issue for when US Congressional talks happen.
The EU Commission is going further and said it was investigating Apple Pay. Specifically, looking at the T&Cs and other conditions Apple imposes for integrating its payment solution into others' apps and websites on iPhones and iPad. The Commission will also look at how Apple imposes itself on others' access to the NFC functionality on iPhones for payments in stores.
A clear win for Spotify (who raised the concerns), Vestager (Executive Vice-President for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age and Competition) mentioned that it would be ‘really difficult’ to say what Spotify (and the market) would be without the conditions that Apple imposed in the AppStore. Vestager believes Apple is lording its “Gatekeeper’ role over others.
"The rival music streaming services - they don't even get to know their customers. So if I end my subscription they cannot even send me an email to say is there something we can do for you, why did you end your subscription?"
The EU’s early comments - which read pretty final to most people (!), means that every one of the big four tech platforms now has antitrust charges against them.
__ DO __ Expect Apple to come out swinging. The case is not over yet; Apple has 12 weeks to respond and a lot to lose. // __ DON'T __ Expect Apple to play nicely. The EU comments come on the eve of its battle with Epic Games stateside.
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