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Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren today gave a speech where she accused Amazon, Apple, and Google of attempting to "snuff out competition" by locking out smaller companies, reports Recode.
"Google, Apple and Amazon have created disruptive technologies that changed the world, and ... they deserve to be highly profitable and successful," Warren said. "But the opportunity to compete must remain open for new entrants and smaller competitors that want their chance to change the world again."
In regard to Apple specifically, Warren said the company has made it difficult for its rivals to offer competitive streaming services able to compete with Apple Music, presumably through the cut that it takes from streaming services like Spotify when people sign up through the iOS app.

applemusic.jpg

To account for Apple's cut, Spotify charges $12.99 to customers who purchase a subscription through an Apple device, which is $3 higher than the $9.99 price tag of Apple Music.

While Apple declined to comment on Warren's statements, Spotify's head of communications and public policy Jonathan Prince took the opportunity to lambaste Apple in a statement given to Recode.
"Apple has long used its control of iOS to squash competition in music, driving up the prices of its competitors, inappropriately forbidding us from telling our customers about lower prices, and giving itself unfair advantages across its platform through everything from the lock screen to Siri. You know there's something wrong when Apple makes more off a Spotify subscription than it does off an Apple Music subscription and doesn't share any of that with the music industry. They want to have their cake and eat everyone else's too."
Spotify has long been unhappy with Apple's pricing policy. In the past, Spotify fought against Apple's cut by sending emails to its customers who had signed up for a $12.99 per month subscription on an iPhone or iPad, encouraging them to cancel their subscriptions and re-subscribe via the web.

Recently, Spotify criticized some upcoming App Store changes like a new revenue split for subscriptions and ads in search results, saying Apple's efforts don't "get to the core of the problem" and criticizing Apple's insistence on "inserting itself between developers and their customers."

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Senator Elizabeth Warren Accuses Apple of Trying to 'Snuff Out Competition,' Spotify Agrees
 

MellowFuzz

macrumors 6502
Sep 11, 2013
337
638
I really hate Elizabeth Warren - champagne socialist, enriched off getting students into crippling debt, hilarious claim of ethnic heritage in order to gain advantage, claim of expert knowledge outside of her narrow expertise, sold out on auditing the Fed, supports a blood-soaked crook for President... but yeah, I'd agree on this. Apple is less Steve Jobs, more Smaug.
 

okboy

macrumors regular
Oct 9, 2010
243
452
The credibility of Warren has gone down hill considerably since she began to promote Hillary Clinton. She's supposed to be a watch-dog for the little guy, but supports the candidate with what has to be the largest political slush fund in history? We can't have real consumer protection in a system this corrupt, so why is Warren supporting it?
 

OneZweiThree

macrumors regular
Feb 17, 2013
224
329
Bavaria
I don't get spotifys point. Apple made it all possible. Spotify is not forced, to offer their service on iOS. They also want to use apples infrastructure, technology and services, but not pay for it? If they can't take the financial hit and offer it for 10$ on iOS, then maybe their business model is t the best.

What apple is doing, is driving the price for the consumer down. I've never heard anyone sane complain about that!
 

Swift

macrumors 68000
Feb 18, 2003
1,825
964
Los Angeles
So, just because they have a streaming service, they want special rules. Every other app developer gets the same split, and they pay for the "product placement" of being in the Apple Store. Now, they're going to lower the cut and offer subscriptions over a wider area. If Apple doesn't want to take freeloaders into the Apple Store, I can't blame them.
 

Glassed Silver

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2007
2,096
2,567
Kassel, Germany
Damn, too late already.

Of course the Apple defense force is not MIA just minutes after the article is online.
Now, I'm not much slower, the resident ********er, right? Right!

However, to get to the point: I don't think Apple is in the right.
It's one thing to take the cut, but to forbid the service to notify customers of cheaper options that are available elsewhere...
And yes, to hinder competitors by locking down APIs...

Especially the latter is EXACTLY what we had been complaining about in the late 90s when Apple was the one liberating us from Microsoft and all evil IBM before in the 80s.

Hello? Anyone home?

Glassed Silver:mac
 

ethanwa79

macrumors 6502
Sep 13, 2014
419
1,593
I don't get spotifys point. Apple made it all possible. Spotify is not forced, to offer their service on iOS. They also want to use apples infrastructure, technology and services, but not pay for it? If they can't take the financial hit and offer it for 10$ on iOS, then maybe their business model is t the best.

What apple is doing, is driving the price for the consumer down. I've never heard anyone sane complain about that!

I agree! You want full control and best pricing Spotify? Go make your own phone! Good luck.

And for the people comparing this to Microsoft or IBM, it's the not the same thing. Apple has plenty of competition in the mobile phone industry and DON'T have a monopoly. They are free to lock down their API's as they see fit as competitors (like Spotify) still have other platforms they can use instead. This isn't like Windows/IE, when they controlled 99% market share.

From a user's perspective though, it does suck that on iOS it's Apple Music if you want full integration. I can see both sides. But the reality is that Spotify simply doesn't have anything "disruptive" in the marketplace and therefore all they can do is complain.... come up with something truly unique if you want to get Apple to change.
 

indychris

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2010
687
1,483
Fort Wayne, IN
I don't agree with Apple's policy of taking a cut of subscription prices, but there is butthurt all around in this article.

What??? That's what business IS! Competition doesn't mean that people get to use YOUR stuff free of charge. Competition means that people can come up with their OWN stuff. Spotify, if you don't like Apple/iOS, then build your own dang phone and OS and create demand for your device and service. Then you can do whatever you want to with YOUR brainchild.
mathews_doh.gif
 

cmChimera

macrumors 601
Feb 12, 2010
4,271
3,753
It's possible that Apple's prices are too high, but they're taking steps to remedy that. To say that Spotify shouldn't have to pay for access to the App Store and to Apple's customer base seems a little heavy handed.
 
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redhawk87

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2009
181
23
Raleigh, NC
I am on the fence about this. I have no idea who this lady is, but I do think this is a topic that does POTENTIALLY enter the gray area territory with anti-monopoly laws. So, I could see a politician talking about the issue. Now this is coming from someone who has never heard of her before. Judging by the other comments, looks like people dont seem to like her very much. I cannot tell if people really dont like her or that she is a democrat.
 
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