Unfortunately the EU has a bunch of unelected bureaucrats chartered to stymie a free market. First offer the users Apple Music and then other services.
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European Regulators Concerned Apple's Proposed Shazam Acquisition Could Hurt Competitors Like Spotify
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The way I see it, the added revenue you get from keeping users on iPhones and Apple Music may outweigh the loss in sales from the HomePod not supporting other streaming services or devices.
Not to mention the Apple Watch is locked to the iPhone and currently supports only Apple Music. It too had a slow start but Apple was able to pivot quickly enough to make it the success it is today.
Though if you ask me, what makes the “Apple is doomed” argument so dumb is that it has always implied that Apple was some sort of special snowflake, incapable of leveraging its massive user base or demonstrated ability to iterate on its industry-leading products.
As if the company would somehow forget how to make a phone, or that developers would give up on a user base in the hundreds of millions, or that users would suddenly not care about nice things. All nonsense.
That is basically my point: Apple has had a special run, thanks to its special ability to start with the user experience and build from there. It is why the company is dominant and will continue to be so for many years.
The free market is only free as long as there is enough competition. When there is risk of loss of competition or negative impact by company fusions to the customer, the state -or in that case the EU- has to take action to ensure said competition.
Something the average MR user seems to have problems understanding.
They're not, but they do now. And if that changes just because Apple takes it over and uses it to push Apple Music, the fusion would have a negative impact for the customer.
I'm not sure how large Shazam is, but google is being under strict regulations for the same reasons.
Imagine what happens, if google would arbitrarily remove your company from search results? Huge loss of sales. Shazam isn't in that ballpark, but the effect for the competition is similar.
Sadly the EU main source of income is by suing everyone else.
For a second, I was going to say, "why does Europe even have any say in the matter?" Then I Googled and saw that Shazam is located in London. Interesting, and ... *sighs*
Perhaps, if Shazam really wants this, (if necessary) they'd move their company to the US first.
Perhaps, if Shazam really wants this, (if necessary) they'd move their company to the US first.
Which country has an elected body who enforces antitrust?
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Because Apple is interested in selling products to EU citizens.
In the EU there is a high trust in the government, reason for governments (and parliaments of course) to regulate the welfare of everyone. In the US, the trust lies more on the companies and less on the government.
What can I say? I prefer to be treated at a public hospital whose sole purpose is to help people efficiently rather than at a private hospital whose goal is pure profit.
Different models, different outcomes. The citizens of the EU prefer solidarity and welfare for everyone by means of public institutions. Simple.
Spotify could by SoundHound or build its own service if it is something people want. Sony had its own identifying service at one point.
'Ok, If Apple waits till Britain goes Brexit, and Shazam's HQ is in England, and Apple is a US company, what right would the EU have to block a merger of 2 companies that are not part of the EU?????
I'm not sure why you bumped an eleven-month old thread, but the EU blocking a merger has nothing to do with whether one of the companies is in the EU. They don't have a "right" so much as they have leverage: Apple doesn't want to lose its revenues from EU citizens.