Matti Robinson
15 Mar 2019 11:13
Spotify, the Swedish music streaming powerhouse, is one of the toughest competitor to the near trillion dollar behemoth that is Apple.
While Apple has destroyed many larger companies on their way to dominance, Spotify has managed to not only stay as the number one streaming platform for music, but in many markets even increase the lead.
One of the ways Apple strenghtens their own standing is taking a 30 percent cut from iOS purchases. Obviously 30 percent price difference cuts heavily into competitors' bottom line, and even worse it goes straight into Apple's pockets, and Spotify has been recently very vocal about this.
Spotify has complained about it to the EU Commission, but Apple is not going to let claims slide without responding.
They've released a statement where they simply offer an explanation that Spotify seems to want to use the platforms with its straightforward tools for customer acquisition but do not want to pay the price.
They also address a few other claims, including blocking access to products and updates, all of which they say are false, obviously. In addition Apple seems to want to throw a little bit of dirt, and claims Spotify is in it for the money and doesn't treat artists and music industry right.
Whether EU will decide to act on Spotify's claims remains to be seen, but clearly there is plenty of animus between the two.