EU fines Apple €1.8bn over App Store restrictions on music streaming
www.theguardian.com
Penalty for breaching competition law is four times higher than forecast as Brussels looks to send message to tech firms

  • Apple has been fined €1.8bn ($2bn) by the EU after an investigation found it had limited competition from music streaming services such as Spotify.

  • The European competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said a smaller fine would have been nothing more than the equivalent of a parking fine and the €1.8bn was designed to act as a deterrent against a repetition of such practices by Apple or others.

  • “Apple’s rules ended up harming consumers. Critical information was withheld so that consumers could not effectively use or make informed choices. Some consumers may have paid more because they weren’t aware that they can pay less if they subscribed outside of the app,” Vestager said.

  • Vestager said consumers may have paid two or three euros a month more for music streaming because of the lack of open competition. However, she conceded that the fine would not be distributed to customers who had been allegedly exploited but to individual member states.

  • She said the fine represented 0.5% of Apple’s global turnover.

  • PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    471·
    9 months ago

    1.8 billion fine and that’s only 0.5% of Apple’s yearly revenue. That’s insane.

      • lud@lemm.eeEnglish
        18·
        9 months ago

        Fucking hell, that’s reads like they are a kid at a playground that took all the toys and is mad that a parent forced them to share some toys with the other kids.

        It’s extremely embarrassing that a company of their size acts like this. Grow up.

      • CaptainEffort@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        75·
        9 months ago

        Honestly tho… it seems like they have a point. It isn’t just blind ranting, there’s a lot of truth here.

        And I say that as someone that doesn’t even particularly like Apple, I use Windows and prefer Android.

        • FilthyHookerSpit@lemmy.worldEnglish
          101·
          9 months ago

          Yeah, for a second I was “fuck apple” but what they wrote in there does make sense. Now, I’m still “fuck apple” but I am also “fuck Spotify too”.

        • Giooschi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          9 months ago

          They do kinda have a point against Spotify but they conveniently omit the fact that Apple Music, their own music app, competes against Spotify without those restrictions that Spotify wants to remove.

        • oktoberpaard@feddit.nlEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          Note, however, that the mere fact that all those apps exist for iOS adds a lot of value for Apple too. Apple wouldn’t sell nearly as many iPhones if the most important apps weren’t available on their platform. They spin it as if they are only creating value for the app developers without asking for much in return, while the App Store is an enormous cash cow, which they’ve been able to build due to the lack of restrictions (pre DMA). A good API is not just a service for app developers, it’s a way to enhance the user experience and sell more phones, because of all the work that app developers do to turn it into useful and exciting features.

      • asudox@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        Today, Spotify has a 56 percent share of Europe’s music streaming market — more than double their closest competitor’s — and pays Apple nothing for the services that have helped make them one of the most recognizable brands in the world. A large part of their success is due to the App Store, along with all the tools and technology that Spotify uses to build, update, and share their app with Apple users around the world.

        Didn’t expect this much lol

        • no banana@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          It’s funny since the only reason Spotify has made money through being gracefully allowed on the app store is because there was no alternative on iOS lmao