Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Rejected Spotify's App Update Adding Audiobook Support

entropys said:
Apple hasn’t really paid much attention to its Books app, although Books finally got thrown a wee bit of a bone interface wise in ios16. Audiobooks is a key area it is has not been given any love. Basically you have to buy an audiblebook at exorbitant prices (AUD$30 plus) in the Books app.
There are some books available through the podcast app, but it is pretty limited.
Over on kindle, if you buy a kindle book for an extra couple of dollars if an audio version exists for many books. And there is also the classic audible subscription (Amazon owns audible) but it is not good value of money and an area ripe for classic disruption. I would also note that all Apple Books has over The Kindle App is you can buy books directly in the app, whereas Apple requires the buyer to go outside the app to a browser for kindle. Bad Apple.

I would expect the spotify effort is more like the Apple podcast, but specifically given development attention and promotion to help spotify diversify. Meanwhile, Apple Books in general, and thus audible books as well, has been on the back burner at Apple for sometime. It was clearly burnt badly in that antitrust case, and went into classic avoidance. Meanwhile Amazon won all it desired, ironically reduced competition for kindle.

I still believe the digital book market is ripe for disruption, including audiobooks, and Apple is just about the only company that can do it. Maybe Spotify can do it if Apple isn’t willing to go to the effort.
Click to expand...

On the other hand, the Books app is really neat for reading epubs purloined elsewhere :D
 
  • Love
Reactions: sorgo †
Does it matter anymore though now that the EU passed the digital markets act? Spotify will just leave the Apple App Store anyway in 2024
 
dmylrea said:
Your analogy is wrong. Spotify isn't advertising audiobooks in Apple's App Store. Spotify is trying to sell them in their own app and Apple is making it as difficult as possible for Spotify's customers to do so.
Click to expand...
On the contrary. Apple is making it as easy as possible to buy Spotify audiobooks through the Spotify iOS app. Apple has built a robust and easy-to-use purchasing system into iOS which every app developer can take advantage of simply by adding a few lines of code to their app.

Apple then takes a cut of Spotify's sales AS THEY SHOULD SINGE THEY OWN THE PLATFORM SPOTIFY IS USING AND MADE PURCHASING SO EASY FOR CUSTOMERS.
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
Reactions: DEMinSoCAL, Apple$, vipergts2207 and 1 other person
It's only a matter of time before Europe starts messing with Apple and force them to open up the app store, and that change will then slowly be adopted worldwide. Apple isn't playing fair and is abusing their position and it's about time it ends to be honest.
Abazigal said:
While we are at it, let’s be consistent and do the same for Sony, Xbox and all the other proprietary online game stores as well.
Click to expand...
Microsoft has already done it with their own app store and has pledge to do the same with Xbox in the future by the way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vipergts2207
Tozovac said:
Gotta protect the ability to meet shareholder/analyst growth expectations!
Click to expand...
That’s actually the key I think. Shareholder/analyst expectations need to be reoriented from massive quarterly growth to steady, incremental growth. indefinitely.

Currently it beats expectations for a quarter, else it’s a fail. That’s not sustainable.

I say this as a shareholder, albeit a small one. I’ll take steady dividends each quarter for the rest of my life over a massive jump in stock price one quarter for a lump sum as I flip it. 🤷🏾‍♂️
 
Mrkevinfinnerty said:
Fair enough.

As long as Apple accepts that they distribute their products services in the EU and the European Commission have the right to ban their business practices as do any other government where Apple trade.
Click to expand...
Well they do accept that, as they follow the laws and pay the repercussions of violating laws in these market within the full extent of the law.
 
SW3029 said:
On the contrary. Apple is making it as easy as possible to buy Spotify audiobooks through the Spotify iOS app. Apple has built a robust and easy-to-use purchasing system into iOS which every app developer can take advantage of simply by adding a few lines of code to their app.

Apple then takes a cut of Spotify's sales AS THEY SHOULD SINGE THEY OWN THE PLATFORM SPOTIFY IS USING AND MADE PURCHASING SO EASY FOR CUSTOMERS.
Click to expand...
Except sideloading should be doable on any computing platform, including iOS and Android and devs be paid using any payment method they want. I can install Fortnite and give Epic money on any android device withoit using the Google Play store and that is how it should be on all devices to be honest. Can't believe people are defending a company's interest when all it does is hinder consumer's purchasing power long term.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DEMinSoCAL
zorinlynx said:
Someone needs to slap down Apple about this already. Look, I love their products but their first party apps have an unfair advantage since third party has to pay the 30% cut on all purchases..

People already pay big bucks for the hardware. Apple should concentrate on that being their profit center, and stop trying to force other companies to pay near extortion transaction fees. And like it or not, Apple has a dominant position in the market, so they are subject to antitrust laws.
Click to expand...
I’d argue that this being reduced to something like 15% in areas where they complete could actually grow their subscriber base and revenue.

This is literally just gas on the antitrust/compete lawsuit fire.

Add up the costs of lost subscribers, never-Apple fanboys, lawsuit settlements and public opinion against the 30% of existing subscribers.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Apple$
"app rejections due to Spotify's attempts to skirt the up to 30 percent cut that Apple takes from purchases."

so...spotify is knowingly doing this to get headlines.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: Apple$
Who remembers when Apple was forced to make Internet Explorer the default browser on OS8 because they needed Microsoft's money?

I guess Apple became an IBM , and they are the big brother of 2022
 
Spotify makes lots of promises they fail to deliver on. Maybe if Spotify took care of those I'd be more inclined to care about this latest issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kirkster
Abazigal said:
While we are at it, let’s be consistent and do the same for Sony, Xbox and all the other proprietary online game stores as well.
Click to expand...
I agree that should be done since brick and mortar stores are disappearing we do not want a digital monopoly where you can only buy from one store which is determined by the device manufacturer. I believe side loading is the best option to accomplish this.
 
This all comes down to how valuable the iOS platform is by itself. That’s what apple is charging for here.

If the iOS platform isn’t valuable then why are you making products for it? If there were no users here to make money off then why would you bother developing for it?

Yes it is rent seeking. But in the real world that’s what capitalism is. You exploit the land you own. You seek rent for its use. From an economics point of view apple needs to be rewarded for its entrepreneurial risk.

The fact that some other platforms don’t always do that is neither here nor there. That is their choice. It’s normally because they receive their income from another place. Google from advertising, Microsoft actually sell their OS etc. Sony from game licenses.

I think the only reason this comes up so publicly for apple is that part of apples mojo is to make sure that their customers have all the basic things that other platforms do as soon as they buy a device. So they can stream music, podcast, edit video, buy books etc.

The reason for this is apple has been burnt by relying on third party companies to provide these services on the mac platform in the past. Adobe, Microsoft etc would not make some apps for Mac and basically were killing the platform. So apple started buying/creating things like Aperture (RIP), Final Cut, Logic Pro etc.

Now fast forward to 2022 and some of the services they have also compete with third party services on the platform apple built and managed to gather billions of users on.
So Apple is, just like every other platform owner, bricks and mortar store, land owner etc. is just taking advantage of the fact it owns the platform and doesn’t need to add 30% to sell something on the platform it built. Tesco in the uk can sell you baked beans for cheaper than Heinz do because it’s their shop. It’s that simple.

The problem for companies like Spotify is that there is no way for them to eat the 30% and be profitable because they are buying the product at a fixed wholesale price. Just like apple is.

If apple tried to up their own prices by 30% to make sure that Spotify and Apple paid the same, apple prices would look terrible against what Spotify would charge outside the store. So I don’t actually think apple are doing wrong here. As a business they can determine their business model for paying for their iOS platform how ever way they want. And it comes down to one thing, if the platform isn’t valuable enough for you to pay 30% then why are you here?
 
Instead of bushing their competitors, Apple could have come up with a subscription model for their own book store, similar to Storytel, Netflix or any other subscription streaming service. Apple have an excellent book choice there, so I would personally gladly pay between 5-10€ per month to have access to their listed audiobooks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back