It took 2 years for EU to actually make a real statement and it happened to be just right now when their wallets are all bleeding for more money. How convenient. Yes it's true that Apple is getting more profit of their higher commisions on Apple Stores, but if other competitors don't like it, they can just use own system of subscription. Even if Apple is fined at some point from EU's, at the end the end user was the most affected side, because he paid for all this and EU just wants to get share of the pie.. That's not very decent of them either, so Apple is actually smarter. They know when to cut corners before someone else tries to.. they're all milking us, the end-users and we pay for all their shenanigans, altogether. If EU is so concern about it's market and users, just make it more affordable for EU users, so Apple will be forced to find other ways to make profit of us.. But no, they're all the same..
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Apple in Breach of EU Competition Law, European Commission Finds
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"Sell my item in your store and don't charge me any commission and provide security for my product in your store".
Could uther post an opinion without silent downvoting everybody? 🤷♂️😂
This right here. I just don’t get it. Of course Apple want payments made through their system. They didn’t create the App Store to be a charity.
I have Spotify premium and I didn’t buy it via the App Store. Wasn’t hard to set up.
European Union rules in favour of European company, later news coming in the summer.
At the point they don't care about a market of over 500 million people.
I cn see other payments being allowed but not sideloading. Forcing Apple to open up its OS is, IMHO, a step to far and would simply result in greater sandboxing of non-App Store apps so they potentially will lack access to certain features and / or Apple charging higher fees for things like developer tools, app signing, etc. hurting small developers.
Don't bet against a huge company's ability to find ways to make money off of changed rules. Apple could also only let Spotify link to its website for payment in the EU.
Same here. None of my subscriptions are through the App Store.
They may wind up doing that and raising the costs in other areas to compensate for lost revenue. They can simply charge upfront for placement and let Spotify run their own payment service. I suspect if Apple does that Spotify will scream foul once more.
This has never been about Spotify wanting to help the consumer, it's simply a money grab. They want access to Apple's user base since it is a lucrative one, have Apple incur the costs of hosting, signing, etc. and not have to pay anything for it.
I would not be surprised if Apple starting charging to host subscription based apps that do not offer IAP or requiring those that link to outside purchase to offer the same price as an IAP.
It is not bad when they review big tech behavior. Only fool can expect they do all only in best intentions. No home runs.
It will be be long and costly battle where mainly lawyers will benefit
I suspect the same.
If APPLE pays rights holders more than Spotify perhaps Spotify should be investigated for abusing its dominant position in streaming and forced to pay more or allow rights holders to include ads in their streams.
Perhaps. But it works with Siri. It works with Apple Watch. It works with CarPlay.
In fact, Spotify was not the first to take advantage of these when they were introduced. I would argue they did so precisely because they would have to change their arguments.
The only potential change I see Apple needing to make is allowing them to inform subscribers they can save money if they sign up directly.
I doubt that would happen anytime soon. Europe is still a more valuable market than China, and the way Apple is bending the knee in China for the sake of profit, they will not let that European money get away either.
Europe has twice as many people as the US, so never.
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Only paying a fine though? Without being forced to actually make a change seems strange. Basically you pay your way out of it but continue doing what they were just fined for? Is that normal practice?
Don't worry. Thanks to the vote of ridiculously misguided people, we (UK) will not get to benefit for much longer of EU consumer protection legislation.
In exchange, keep on telling yourself that the EU is doing this to fill their "fat pockets" (whose pockets exactly?), clutch your blue passport and enjoy your newly found sovereignty.
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Bureaucrats always do this sort of thing when they need some extra money. Just find a big corporation, find them "guilty" of some piffling "crime", fine them, and the divvy up the cash. It never actually benefits the poor plebs who toil away in the information mines.
Spotify could remove subscriptions entirely from their app and rely on good old fashioned advertising and marketing just like Netflix and Amazon.
If I walk into a music shop, are they obliged to tell me I can buy a CD cheaper elsewhere ?
It's a preliminary hearing only. It'll be another one to watch.
Basically the EU wants Apple to inform the users where they can buy an item cheaper AND give them a free taxi ride to the location.
If Spotify had been an American company rather than a European one, I doubt it would not have got this far.
It's even worse. Apple supposedly should also advertise using competing services.
They would have to allow all apps to do the same which could lead to a lot of scummy apps tricking people
This will be the death of Apple for many people if this happens. If Apple is forced to essentially turn in to Android, why the heck should I pay MORE for an iPhone than an Android phone? Android phones are usually much much better hardware wise, so this will be the death of the iPhone for MANY people - myself included. The ONLY reason I prefer iPhones is due to the locked down environment. If that goes away, so will I.
Typical Apple nagging strategies to force you into buying their subscriptions. Could be another EU punishment as high as 10 Bln € Just pay up Timmy
What is to prevent scam apps from doing that? Do you think Apple should play favorites then? Spotify can bypass Apple's charges but I cannot?
This would allow Spotify to completely cut Apple out of any share of the profits. Does it sound fair for Apple to spend resources to support a direct competitor with no monetary return? Perhaps 15% is too much and surely 30% is too much but Apple deserves some compensation for providing Spotify a platform to sell their goods. Allowing Spotify to completely bypass this is not a fair solution either.
I wonder how many Spotify subscriptions are as a direct result of IAP's ?
It's possible the EU may be able to force Apple to allow Spotify to use alternate payment methods, and Apple in return can disallow IAP's altogether for apps that wish to adopt that stance.
Force users out-of-app to a third website to complete the purchase and I'd bet that sales will go down. Many IAP's are spur of the moment subscriptions.
It's possible the EU may be able to force Apple to allow Spotify to use alternate payment methods, and Apple in return can disallow IAP's altogether for apps that wish to adopt that stance.
Force users out-of-app to a third website to complete the purchase and I'd bet that sales will go down. Many IAP's are spur of the moment subscriptions.