Apple launched iTunes in 2001. Spotify didn't come into the digital music business until 2008.
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Apple to Be Fined Over $500 Million in EU Music Streaming Probe
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Apple launched iTunes in 2001. Spotify didn't come into the digital music business until 2008.
Apple:
Due to expenses we can no longer release the iPhone 16 in the EU. You can buy a base iPhone 16 Pro for € 2000.
This is what is going to happen, if the EU keeps doing this. And then there will be an actual mobile monopoly with Android. Then the EU will go after Google.
In 5-10 years, (mobile) technology in the EU will have come to a stop completely.
Due to expenses we can no longer release the iPhone 16 in the EU. You can buy a base iPhone 16 Pro for € 2000.
This is what is going to happen, if the EU keeps doing this. And then there will be an actual mobile monopoly with Android. Then the EU will go after Google.
In 5-10 years, (mobile) technology in the EU will have come to a stop completely.
In addition to the 2/3rds majority enjoyed by Android phones compared to Apple's 1/3rd of mobile OS marketshare in the EU. On top of that, Spotify has a sweatheart deal to pay Google 0% when the payment is processed by Spotify's payment processor and 4% if it uses Google's. Sounds like Spotify is leveraging their clout in the industry to benefit themselves without a care for the little guys who still have to pay Google 15% to 30%.
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Dont confuse EU with its citizens.
Well at least some of them…Nice to see so many commenters coming out to bat for Apple shareholders, I’m sure they really appreciate your support.
Well some people have much easier distinguishing right from wrong.
Do you really think this is going to hurt Apple's shareholders? No. This will hurt Apple consumers within the EU, when Apple passes on this fine to the user's with increased prices for hardware.
And for the people laughing at my post: they will. They have done so before, and they will do so in the future. If you live in the EU (like me) you will pay for this.
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Maybe if the EU actually cared about shareholders a bit more, then the EU might be more competitive in the digital marketplace. But since the EU has failed to support business properly, it finds itself largely outside of the world of digital business. Having failed to foster businesses that could compete on technology, it now wants to "compete" through legislation and fines. It's a terrible strategy, but once you've lost, there's not much else they can do.
You do know that this data mining is what nearly every 'free' app in the Apple Store does right? So Apple themselves may not do it but they sure provide a huge platform for millions of others to do it on.
I truly do not know what to say to you and others on here, choosing to dump 25% of your entire annual turnover and leave a market of several wealthy Western nations with several hundred million consumers,
not least putting thousands out of work, all because you got caught with your pants down and to pay a fine you can find down the back of the sofa, won't 'hurt share holders'.
Go and Ask Apples biggest share holders what they would do if Apple pulled out of the EU market... I think you'll be surprised by their answer.
Not if the EU is going to cost them 20+% of their global market income. Which is something DMA fines will actually be like. The EU has become a liability for Apple. And sure some shareholders might be against it, but if Apple needs to do it. They will leave the EU, or make their products so expensive in the EU to cover the fines.
Also year by year in the EU smartphone sales have been dropping. Where they have been rising in countries like India and China. That 25% will drop.
And Apple will just keep paying the fine rather than comply here. Just like the Dutch dating app thing.
They should be fining Spotify for their anti competitive behavior especially to artists.
I agree, I am a shareholder, and it will not hurt people. The consumers in the EU will be hurt.
Ummm....you think these fees and taxes are free to you? Apple will earn the money it needs to earn in order to stay healthy in the EU market. Which means consumers will pay in a different way.
You speak of this marketshare as though it can be mined in an unlimited way, as though the EU can keep looking for new ways to extract money from Apple and there will be no cost.
Go ask businesses in the EU why they aren't competing on the global stage in these markets. You may be surprised by their answer.
They should. Why? Because that would be the last day of Apple's current management.
Or the rules are slanted against any company that’s not a home player.
Or, maybe Apple is the new Microsoft.
How so? You're aware that IOS has less than a 30% marketshare in the EU, right? Or are you, like many others on this forum, unaware of what a monopoly actually is?
...and relative to this specific discussion on this specific fine, Spotify is closer to being like Microsoft than is Apple.
Because Apple has the dirtiest tactics when it comes to iOS, isn't that obvious?
Competition law is much broader than that, and you know it.
But are they, pls illustrate with data to back this up.
Whatever your findings though, the rules must still be observed because let's be honest, (and I'm going to go a little extreme),if I had every qualification that made me the best objective candidate for US President, and even if I'd been living there since before Kindergarten - the rules are slanted against anyone that's not a home player.
That's even IF, they are and you still need to prove that as you made the claim.
Apple isn’t forcing anyone to buy their stuff or shop in their app store. No company can force you to give them money. Only the gov’t has that power.
If people are so worried about lack of competition in the smartphone space, they should’ve bought a Palm or Windows smartphone when they had the chance. Apple’s dominance is a direct result of people CHOOSING to create a duopoly.
Or, stop buying Apple gear if this is so worrisome. There are plenty of people who are doing just fine without smartphones, like Warren Buffet. But as far as I can tell, the only ones making a fuss are gov’t officials who need to justify their large paychecks and a handful of Apple competitors… Netflix pulled out of the app store and seems to be doing just fine.
In the EU, "competition law" simply means "we failed to cultivate business that could compete on the merits, so we're going to try to hobble their competition through selective legislation and fines."