Musicians have long argued that Spotify causes irreparable harm to their community.
Anyone can bundle apps and subscriptions on the App Store.
Anyone can bundle apps and subscriptions on the App Store.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Spotify Says Apple One Bundle Will Cause 'Irreparable Harm to Developer Community'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm a believer in the free market. That's not saying that I'm for monopolies, but I don't believe Apple is one, nor do I believe Google is, or Microsoft was.
I subscribe to Apple Music because I prefer them over Spotify. I've had both. I didn't care for Spotify.
I subscribe to multiple video streaming services, and I subscribe to Apple TV+ (currently free, but intend on keeping it).
I subscribe to iCloud storage, but I also have multiple cloud accounts with other services as well.
Apple can undercut Spotify by charging the percentage to Spotify and restricting how they can build payment services, and they can incentivize people by having Apple Music default installed. I mean, I kind of get Spotify's side of this. They basically invented music streaming. Brought it to the masses. Apple copied them several years later, and get to use their own rules against Spotify. They compete with Spotify, but then they use their tools to make Spotify less capable of competing. Thats called anti-competitive behavior
iPhone dominates the smartphone market? What about the 85% of smartphone users (over three billion people) who do not use an Apple device?
Where would you draw the line in terms of marketshare when Apple could do what they do now?
It’s about 15% now.
10%?
5%?
It's not anti-competitive when you have a choice, and my choice has been and always will be Apple.
And yet they have more subscribers than Apple Music, so I guess they are competing just fine.
I don't get this. Let's even imagine a world where there weren't parallels like Office 365 Microsoft 365 or Amazon Prime or Google Suite and Apple was the FIRST to bundle subscriptions, how is this hurting any developers?
If you like Apple Arcade and iCloud, but you prefer Spotify, you're probably going to skip out on the bundle. If you like everything except Fitness+ and News+, or already have a Peloton, you will probably opt for a different plan or not bundling. This is only helping the consumer and rewarding them for being with the platform.
Gmail and Google Services just work better on Android devices, I don't see that hurting any other developer. There is a parallel with Apple as well. They continue to add more and more features for developers to tie into, like SiriKit, Password Providers, default music apps on HomePod, and more. Is it perfect? No. But they keep allowing more and more developers to have a first-party experience every year. Crying about Apple making services that people love and painting them as a bad guy isn't going to win any favors.
If Apple really wanted to be anti-competitive, they'd shut down the App Store completely and we developers would have to figure out how to provide great experiences only through the old school WebClips. It's like people forget how sucky it was 5 years ago, let alone 13 when the first iPhone was released or before then when there wasn't a decent phone platform with mass adoption to allow all of these freshly minted millionaires to cry playing fair.
This is what we get for giving everyone participation trophies and making them think that they deserve to have everything their way. Take the pacifier out of your mouth and grow up.
If you like Apple Arcade and iCloud, but you prefer Spotify, you're probably going to skip out on the bundle. If you like everything except Fitness+ and News+, or already have a Peloton, you will probably opt for a different plan or not bundling. This is only helping the consumer and rewarding them for being with the platform.
Gmail and Google Services just work better on Android devices, I don't see that hurting any other developer. There is a parallel with Apple as well. They continue to add more and more features for developers to tie into, like SiriKit, Password Providers, default music apps on HomePod, and more. Is it perfect? No. But they keep allowing more and more developers to have a first-party experience every year. Crying about Apple making services that people love and painting them as a bad guy isn't going to win any favors.
If Apple really wanted to be anti-competitive, they'd shut down the App Store completely and we developers would have to figure out how to provide great experiences only through the old school WebClips. It's like people forget how sucky it was 5 years ago, let alone 13 when the first iPhone was released or before then when there wasn't a decent phone platform with mass adoption to allow all of these freshly minted millionaires to cry playing fair.
This is what we get for giving everyone participation trophies and making them think that they deserve to have everything their way. Take the pacifier out of your mouth and grow up.
I disagree with letting you choose your own voice assistant, as it is baked into the OS. Next, do you want to choose which OS goes on your iPhone?
Sure, Apple could do that and simply let Apple Music be a loss making division (by moving the profits to the App Store division). That wouldn’t solve anything, unless you also added a rule that companies aren’t allowed to have loss making divisions.
No, if you want to make rules that actually have an effect, they have to be more based on simple, general principles. Like platform owners not being allowed to offer paid services. But then what happens with the paid plans Fitbit offers?
There’s differences and similarities. That question is a bad argument to suggest it’s ok. Amazon needs to be broken up too.
Last edited by a moderator:
With Music, News and Arcade content being generated by third parties, doesn’t the lower prices mean these content providers get screwed further?
Uh. No. Sorry, but if you can't suck it up $10 when the 2TB is presently $9.99 per month, alone, you should stick to Dropbox and pay even more.
Might feel for Spotify if they didn't constantly cause irreparable harm to their own apps (especially Android) by removing features, making the app slower and more complex, while not innovating for years.
But you conveniently omit how many people see only iOS devices prices and decide to go the Apple Music way because it's cheaper, even more now that it is part of this bundle. Not to mention the many other ways first party services get an advantage over first party ones on iOS devices.
This is not by any means a question on "how much money does Spotify make through IAP", because that metric is a fallacy in itself. Of course they make little money: Apple is screwing them on that channel! You're the one using the non-sensical argument.
I know this subject quite well as I have developed IAP apps, so keep your "hints" to yourself.
``Hi! Welcome to Apple. With AppleOne your musicians are now connected to over 1 Billion subscribers. Automagically. Now, it's up to you to have content worth streaming.''
IMHO The bigger argument for someone with your use case model is that you have subscribed away control of your technology )(regardless of provider). There is definitely some benefit in that but my fear is Apple with use its position to lockdown alternatives by removing things like file system access etc (I personally self hosted my cloud).
Meh. No love for you Spotify, you causing country confusion for expat but can't choose my home country region. In contrast with Apple, I still retain my home country Apple ID and services when life abroad.
I haven't followed who does that, but I don't see why not. If they couldn't that could start some real debates with marketplace competitors, not just Spotify. With iOS/iPadOS apps we have content provider apps that have enlarged the amount content they provide.
Let me get this straight. Apple is to invest billions into the platform, but barred from vertically integrating services with it. Only the free loading 3rd party developers/OEMs should be allowed?
Grow up.
Im using Apple Music and soon upgrading my iCloud to 200GB but I won’t continue my free Apple TV + and I don’t game. Not willing to pay extra for someone I don’t use but it is a good deal for those who do use all these services. I can understand Spotify is nervous.
I won't belittle your fear. I'm afraid of heights and clowns. To each their own.
I subscribe to what I like/want, and if Apple clamps down, I'll look for other alternatives.
This isn't like an internet service provider where I only have one option.