Apple will receive a new fine from the European Commission. The facts with which he is accused: having blocked Apple Music’s competitors on the App Store, in particular Spotify. The fine will be made official by the Commission in 2024 and will be accompanied by a series of obligations, in particular the opening of the application store to other means of payment.
What is the real revolution brought by the iPhone? Is it the product itself? In truth, no. The real revolution arrived after the release of the original smartphone. And more precisely on July 11, 2008. This is the App Store. Its arrival created the application ecosystem as we know it today. Thanks to him, millions of jobs have been created. And a market was created. A market that developers have rushed into, of course. But who benefited the most? It’s Apple, of course.
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Because the firm dictates its rules. She imposes Apple Pay as the only means of payment. And she demands to touch a commission on each payment carried out. And, in both cases, whether it’s an App Store purchase or in-app purchases. Furthermore, this same competition does not have the right to promote alternative means of payment. This was not to the taste of Netflix, Spotify or Epic Games (creator of Fortnite). This obviously led to some complaints.
Europe will announce the amount of the fine against Apple in 2024
Four years ago, Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming that the firm favors its own music streaming service through the App Store’s terms of service. In 2021, the European Commission recognizes the abuse of dominant position. In 2022, Apple will allow developers to promote payment methods outside the App Store in their applications. But this is not enough neither for Spotify nor for the Commission whose the decision will be public early next year according to the Bloomberg news agency.
The latter claims that Europe should impose a new fine on Apple for abuse of dominant position on the conditions of use of the App Store. The amount of this fine could be as high as up to 10% of turnover annual of the Cupertino firm. That’s several billion dollars. But it is not the fine that will shake Apple the most: it is the obligations that will accompany this fine.
Indeed, Europe should also force Apple to change the conditions of the App Store, whether on the means of payment or simply on the obligation to go through the App Store to install and pay for applications. Which represents a huge risk, because the “services” division, which includes the App Store and Apple Music, is the firm’s second source of revenue, behind the sale of iPhones. It generates nearly 20% of turnover of the firm.
Source: Bloomberg