The European Commission has just announced a heavy sentence against Apple: a fine of 1.8 billion euros. The Cupertino company is in fact accused of having failed to indicate to its users alternatives to Apple Music. Ironically, the platform is far from being the leader on the European market.
This is a matter that will not help relations between Apple and Spotify. However, the series dates back to 2019, when the Swedish streaming service filed a complaint against the American giant. Spotify then accuses its rival of abusing its dominant position to promote its own streaming solution, Apple Music, within its ecosystem and to the detriment of the competition. Two years later, the European Commission recognized after an investigation that it was facing an antitrust case.
But we will have to wait until 2023 for the affair to be talked about again. Europe then announced that a sanction would be imposed against Apple, but that it would be necessary to wait until the following year to know its content. A few days ago, the Financial Times believed it had the information: the fine would amount to 500 million euros. The journalists were far from the mark. Indeed, Apple will ultimately have to pay 1.8 billion euros to pay its fine.
Europe imposes a very heavy fine on Apple because of Spotify
“For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for distributing music streaming applications through the App Store,” said Margarethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission. “It did this by preventing developers from informing consumers about other, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem. »
On the same subject — Apple Music will soon save you a lot of time if you come from another streaming service
It would be an understatement to say that the pill is having trouble getting through at Apple. In a response published by press release, the company recalls “Spotify now holds 56% of the music streaming market share in Europe — more than double its closest competitor. » However, according to the Cupertino company, “its success is largely due to the App Store”, while ” and pays nothing to Apple for the services that have helped make it one of the most well-known brands in the world. »
For its part, Spotify congratulated a “decision which marks an important moment in the fight for a more open internet for consumers. {…]No company, not even with a monopoly like Apple’s, can abuse its power to control how other companies interact with their customers.”