Not exactly. You can sure do that if you wish. No one is stopping you. BUT, most stores will price match. Even with Amazon, so long as it is sold by Amazon (usually). However, not only is it mostly impossible for this to actually happen. The store simply would forbid such a thing from happening. You can't go to BestBuy or Target and not pay at the register. But in stead pay the manufacture directly and walk out the of store. That would be stealing, and it's not possible. What EPIC and Spotify want is exactly that. Let them handle the transaction within the AppStore. Like yeah, no... And yeah no, it's my iOS device. Apple made it, they can design it and make it work as they wish. If people, don't like it, they don't have to buy it. It's not like buying gas for your car or water to drink. It's not essential to life, and you have choices with OTHER platforms. Spotify does NOT have to sell anything on Apples platform. They could totally choose to not even offer an app on iOS. I wonder why they don't?...
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Spotify Legal Chief: 'Apple's Ability to Strangle its Competitors is Unprecedented'
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Of course they don't. The entire concept of Apple's cut being reduced is to return some of that revenue to the developer/publisher, not to reduce the cost to the user. It's never been couched as anything but that.
Since you are so educated in how much BB and Amazon make, can you use specifics other than a "big chunk"?
Obviously businesses are in business to make money. No one passes along a product at zero profit. But, Apple doesn't do anything but force software companies to sell to their Apple hardware customers through THEIR STORE ONLY at what is considered by most at a ridiculous 30% cost. Apple has nothing to do with in-app purchases, except accepting payment, yet they want 30% of that.
I could give all sorts of analogies, let's just say every time you used your CC, 30% was added to the bill by the CC bank. Would you be happy?
That's not what Spotify wants. If that were so, they'd want me to pay Universal Music, Sony, et. al. directly for streaming music. Spotify is not the manufacturer in this case – they're the distributor, just like Apple. But unlike Apple, they're forced to pay a 30% cut of their revenue. Were Apple not the platform owner, and were this 30% cut not an obvious and significant competitive disadvantage for Spotify, this wouldn't matter. But they are and it is, and this is where the problem lies. Spotify has a strong argument that Apple is using it's position as the platform owner to stifle competition, and I believe that eventually they'll win that argument.
Epic, on the other hand, has none of this and is screwed.
Amid the ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple, Spotify's chief legal officer and head of global affairs Horacio Gutierrez penned an anti-App Store op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, where he summarizes Spotify's issues Apple.
Gutierrez says that Spotify is one of the few companies that insists Apple is a "ruthless bully that uses its dominance to hobble competitors."
Spotify has long been upset with Apple's App Store fees, as the 15 to 30 percent cut that Apple takes from subscriptions means that Spotify has to either raise its prices for those who sign up via the App Store or decline to offer subscriptions on iOS at all, which is what Spotify has opted for.
Apple's "antisteering" rules prevent Spotify from directing iPhone and iPad customers to the Spotify website to sign up, which Spotify argues gives Apple Music some major advantages.
Gutierrez points out the many regulatory issues that Apple is facing in Europe and the United States. The European Commission in April found that Apple breached EU competition law with Apple Music, and in April, the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee questioned Apple's App Store policies. Spotify, Tile, and others attended the latter hearing and said that if Apple's App Store rules aren't changed, Apple will take over the internet, "limiting innovation, squashing small businesses, and all but eliminating customer choice."
Spotify is asking the U.S. to speed up its regulatory initiatives against Apple with "urgent, narrowly tailored updates" to antitrust law to "end such egregious abuses."
Gutierrez says that Spotify isn't asking for special treatment, but wants "fair treatment," and he sums up his piece by stating that Apple's "ability to strangle its competitors is unprecedented." He say
It seems everyone wants to complain about paying Apple when half these companies wouldn’t exist without Apple devices IMO lol I get the frustration though. I also think the Epic Games lawsuit is a foot in the door for all these other whiners and will set a precedent Apple cannot afford to deal with.
Amid the ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple, Spotify's chief legal officer and head of global affairs Horacio Gutierrez penned an anti-App Store op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, where he summarizes Spotify's issues Apple.
Gutierrez says that Spotify is one of the few companies that insists Apple is a "ruthless bully that uses its dominance to hobble competitors."
Spotify has long been upset with Apple's App Store fees, as the 15 to 30 percent cut that Apple takes from subscriptions means that Spotify has to either raise its prices for those who sign up via the App Store or decline to offer subscriptions on iOS at all, which is what Spotify has opted for.
Apple's "antisteering" rules prevent Spotify from directing iPhone and iPad customers to the Spotify website to sign up, which Spotify argues gives Apple Music some major advantages.
Gutierrez points out the many regulatory issues that Apple is facing in Europe and the United States. The European Commission in April found that Apple breached EU competition law with Apple Music, and in April, the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee questioned Apple's App Store policies. Spotify, Tile, and others attended the latter hearing and said that if Apple's App Store rules aren't changed, Apple will take over the internet, "limiting innovation, squashing small businesses, and all but eliminating customer choice."
Spotify is asking the U.S. to speed up its regulatory initiatives against Apple with "urgent, narrowly tailored updates" to antitrust law to "end such egregious abuses."
Gutierrez says that Spotify isn't asking for special treatment, but wants "fair treatment," and he sums up his piece by stating that Apple's "ability to strangle its competitors is unprecedented." He says that those in a position "to do something" have now "seen past Apple's facade" and are now acting on the behalf of "innovators and consumers around the world."
Article Link: Spotify Legal Chief: 'Apple's Ability to Strangle its Competitors is Unprecedented'
One could argue that Spotify took huge inspiration from the innovation and popularity of last.fm and pandora ?
How about this scenario. All iOS software developers left the platform in protest. Enjoy your iOS device with no software!
You are confusing consumers with the developers. It's not about "if people don't like it"...it's the developers that are getting ripped off, not the consumers buying the devices (except for the fact that app prices could be lower if Apple's fees weren't so high).
i had to laugh when i saw this, because i genuinely appreciate spotify, and i absolutely love its UI compared to apple music.
but lmfao, apple releases tags, tile cries. apple launches hifi up to HQ lossless and atmos, spotify cries.
ffs, spotify has been "teasing" the notion of hifi music streaming for *years* and hasnt done it even with Tidal offering now up to MQA. and Spotify is now *just* about to launch hifi.
top that with Spotify pulling their api for dj applications to access their library, and their UI/UX is now the only reason i care to stay with them. but that alone isnt enough to keep me.
but are we really supposed to feel sorry for spotify? or tile? you see your competitor start competing with offering new things and go "waaaaaaaaaah stop them!"
uh, no. YOU stop them. DO something. ANYTHING worthwhile. anything other than whine that your competitor supplies the devices and then offers them the services much better than yours.
still, i cannot emphasize enough that i despise apple's UI design.
Yeah, I get that sentiment, but it's a two-way street: without those apps, iOS wouldn't be nearly the success story that it is. Can you imagine the iPhone being such a massive success without apps? Apple clearly realizes incredible value from developers' apps being on their devices, just as developers realize incredible value from the same. Trying to argue that either party is wholly responsible for the success of iOS is specious.
It’s clearly identical to Apple music if you ever used it.
After my Sirius xm satellite radio trial expired I had withdrawals from trying to find something to satisfy my music needs, I figured oh well I have Apple Music why not, tried it didn’t like it, their playlists don’t get updated that often and it’s difficult to find specific genres in their List. Apple does have the biggest music catalog but they have a horrible way of sorting their content into more playlists.
I get Spotify for free for 6 months via my cellphone service so I tried it out. I found some decent channels but at the end of the day it ended up repeating the same new songs so wasn’t really drawn into, I mean it’s #1 in the music charts in the App Store because I found out people do prefer Spotify over everything else.
Tried Amazon music, Tidal, Pandora, and suddenly realized that Sirius Xm does have an app which is superior than satellite subscription and cheaper than getting it through your car and to be honest I’ve been using it ever since, I love the high quality audio mixed in with the live and radio feel of it, not to mention quality genre selection I actually prefer over all the others.
I end Up shazaaming all the songs I find on the Sirius XM app and it manually adds them to my Apple Music Library so it works but to say the least Spotify does this internally of course but I would rather have one to two apps than multiple.
I can also add that finding playlists on Apple sucks, try Finding top songs of the 1980’s by year and you get totally different artists and bands, not even the curated playlists by Apple are at the top, you have to dig deep and it’s frustrating, you don’t have this issue with Spotify for example, but those are my 2 cents on finding the right music service I think.
Apple should remove all non-Apple apps from the AppStore and see how many iPhones they sell.
well if you go to a convenience store on the corner you will find prices are quite a bit higher on almost everything compared to say Walmart. app store is pretty much a convenience store. You don't have to shop at the convenience store. The developer can even force you to drive down to the Walmart instead and walk into the back of the store of the store to pay for your app.
Right, because the company that sells 4% of desktop and laptop computers worldwide is a 'monopoly'. The same company that sells maybe, maybe (!) 15-20% of phones worldwide! Are people really so clueless as to the meaning of a simple term being used against a company that is not anywhere near monopolistic.
Spotify is a whinging, whiny, brat. They barely even pay the artists streamed on their service, and yet call for special treatment. Maybe their executives should be earning less. They should simply pull their app from all Apple devices. That will get people's attention! And we'll see what happens after that.
Whine whine sob complain. The “innovators” at Apple were innovating long before your company even incorporated and now you want to benefit off Apple? Nah
Amid the ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple, Spotify's chief legal officer and head of global affairs Horacio Gutierrez penned an anti-App Store op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, where he summarizes Spotify's issues Apple.
Gutierrez says that Spotify is one of the few companies that insists Apple is a "ruthless bully that uses its dominance to hobble competitors."
Spotify has long been upset with Apple's App Store fees, as the 15 to 30 percent cut that Apple takes from subscriptions means that Spotify has to either raise its prices for those who sign up via the App Store or decline to offer subscriptions on iOS at all, which is what Spotify has opted for.
Apple's "antisteering" rules prevent Spotify from directing iPhone and iPad customers to the Spotify website to sign up, which Spotify argues gives Apple Music some major advantages.
Gutierrez points out the many regulatory issues that Apple is facing in Europe and the United States. The European Commission in April found that Apple breached EU competition law with Apple Music, and in April, the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee questioned Apple's App Store policies. Spotify, Tile, and others attended the latter hearing and said that if Apple's App Store rules aren't changed, Apple will take over the internet, "limiting innovation, squashing small businesses, and all but eliminating customer choice."
Spotify is asking the U.S. to speed up its regulatory initiatives against Apple with "urgent, narrowly tailored updates" to antitrust law to "end such egregious abuses."
Gutierrez says that Spotify isn't asking for special treatment, but wants "fair treatment," and he sums up his piece by stating that Apple's "ability to strangle its competitors is unprecedented." He says that those in a position "to do something" have now "seen past Apple's facade" and are now acting on the behalf of "innovators and consumers around the world."
Article Link: Spotify Legal Chief: 'Apple's Ability to Strangle its Competitors is Unprecedented'
Its obvious to all but the biggest Apple fanboys that Apple is in the wrong here. Either don't charge 30% to Spotify or remove Apple Music from existence.
"Apple's Competitors Ability to Provide Mediocrity is Unprecedented"
You’d never get all or even MOST software developers to leave the platform. Because, the vast majority are making a good amount of money with little in the way of cost and overhead even with the 30 or 15%. In fact, they’d LOVE to see a large chunk of their competition leave the AppStore
'Weak competition' — the hundreds of millions of Android and other devices out there are fully available to all of these complainers. If Apple's app store is so 'closed' then why go there? Why purchase a phone which is famously walled-in! 9/10ths of the market is comprised of Android devices, and this is not enough for these companies like Epic and Spotify, who don't recognize that Apple created their own device, software, app store, and the entire mobile phone market as we know it today. All of those development costs should be recouped. Apple owes this to its investors, and to its future.
That is not "another store," and you know it. Both Microsoft and Google allow different installation methods and different stores, which Apple does not. I'm not arguing that they should, but if they aren't going to, then they need to provide an alternative or else they're going to continue to be in hot water with regulators around the world, and rightly so.
I'm tired of the big box retailer comparisons – this isn't a big box retailer and the situations are not the same. This is an online app store on a platform that doesn't allow other app stores, unlike every other platform that exists in this space.
There’s always one person who comes up with this old chestnut. What do you want - 300 different phone systems?
Apple is a digital store, not a CC payment service company. That’s an even worse analogy.
While I don’t know about current figures, back in the day stores were getting about 60% of the sale price for software. This came up during the trial when Epic admitted that the iPhone dramatically increased profits for software companies as compared to brick and mortar (which to be fair to brick and mortar completely different businesses which is why I don’t find such analogies used by either side as particularly germane).
Tell me, who doesn’t know they can go to Spotify’s website and pay for a subscription?
Seriously…. Who?!?
It’s Apple’s store. They spend the money to maintain it and also drive business to your product via app promotions.
where else do sellers not pay a cut to a store to sell their wares? Want to sell your Clothing line in Macy’s? You pay them a cut. Period.