Spotify says its big iPhone update with new subscription options is being blocked by Apple in the EU
There’s more bad blood between Spotify and Apple than you’d find in a Taylor Swift song, and in the latest instalment of the best music streaming service‘s battle, Spotify is accusing Apple of yet more bad behavior. Despite Apple incurring a whopping $2 billion fine from European regulators over its restrictions on third party streaming apps, Spotify says that Apple is still seeking to “circumvent and/or not comply with the Commission’s decision”.
According to The Verge, Spotify’s anger is over its latest app update, which it submitted to Apple on March 5 and has still not been approved. The update includes changes that Spotify says the EU allows it to make, so it includes direct links to Spotify’s website and information on pricing options that don’t require customers to use Apple’s payment system.
Apple’s own submission to the EU, in which it’s appealing the latest decision, included a bit of an own goal. While it’s now ten days since Spotify submitted its app without a response, Apple told the EU that “our app review team has reviewed and approved 421 versions of the Spotify app – usually with same-day turnaround”.
So what’s going on?
War! Huh! What is it good for?
According to Spotify, Apple is deliberately delaying approving the app – and that delay is flying in the face of the EU ruling. For the streamer, “Spotify is concerned that Apple’s delay is intentional and is aimed at delaying or avoiding compliance altogether”, it reportedly wrote in an email to the European Commission. The Verge asked Apple for a response and so far they haven’t replied.
It’s important to look at this in the wider context of the four-year legal battle between the two firms. Spotify isn’t calling the manager because it thinks Apple is being slow, it’s strongly hinting that Apple is using a tactic of malicious compliance. That’s when you stick with the letter but not the spirit of legislation. For example, by responding to a ruling telling you to stop demanding a 30% cut via your App Store by demanding up to a 27% cut of non-App Store sales instead. Or when app updates that normally get processed the same day suddenly start taking 10 days and counting.
This particular battle isn’t the same one that’s compelling Apple to allow side-loading of iOS apps in Europe, but it is part of the same war, a war that’s also being waged between Apple and Electronic Arts. Apple wants to retain a walled garden and take a large cut of the revenues from the apps in it, while the app creators would really rather Apple didn’t – and so far it seems that the EU is very much on the developers’ side, not Apple’s.
You might also like
There’s more bad blood between Spotify and Apple than you’d find in a Taylor Swift song, and in the latest instalment of the best music streaming service‘s battle, Spotify is accusing Apple of yet more bad behavior. Despite Apple incurring a whopping $2 billion fine from European regulators over its…
Recent Posts
- How to watch Apple’s May 2024 iPad launch event
- ‘Inspired by the human brain’: Intel debuts neuromorphic system that aims to mimic grey matter with a clear aim — making the machine exponentially faster and much more power efficient, just like us
- Quordle today – hints and answers for Sunday, April 28 (game #825)
- NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, April 28 (game #56)
- In the first Autonomous Racing League race, the struggle was real
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011