Of the multiple anti-consumer complaints lodged against Apple in recent years, Spotify’s fight for “obvious” updates finally seems to be bearing fruit. Spotify filed an antitrust complaint back in 2019, alleging that Apple’s policies hurt Spotify and bolstered business for Apple Music. After a nearly $2 billion fine, Apple is now making changes that level the playing field a bit.
The biggest change is that Spotify can now display subscription pricing within the app and inform users on how to purchase a subscription from its site. This wasn’t possible before because Apple insisted on Spotify implementing in-app purchases to display these prices.
However, in-app purchases would have meant paying Apple a 30% cut each time. And, naturally, Spotify didn’t want to oblige. This doesn’t mean everything’s been resolved, however. Apple still isn’t allowing Spotify to let users tap a button to go to the Spotify website to make a purchase.
Unfortunately, Spotify and all music streaming services in the EU are still not able to freely give consumers a simple opportunity to click a link to purchase in app because of the illegal and predatory taxes Apple continues to demand, despite the Commission’s ruling.
What’s funny is that Spotify tried doing this back in April but Apple didn’t let the update go through. A little over three months later and suddenly it’s allowed. Makes me think Apple might be a bit scared of another $2 billion fine. Then again, $2 billion isn’t much for a company like Apple.
Image credit — Spotify
It’s also quite irritating that you can’t simply click on a link to go to Spotify’s website. But if being able to display pricing information has been allowed, perhaps that will be too in the near future.
The Spotify and Apple controversy is far from the only antitrust case filed against Apple in the EU. For example, just this year the EU forced Apple to allow third party NFC payments on iPhone. Consumers in the EU can now also sideload apps on iPhone, something that shattered Apple’s walled garden.
Apple’s iPhones are some of the best phones in the market today. But I think it’s becoming quite clear that they’re getting better in the EU.
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Abdullah is an ardent believer in the future of VR, and can't wait to see what more it brings to the table as technology improves. He enjoys covering new software releases in the XR industry, as well as major news about hardware and companies focused on VR.
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