The European Commission has fined Apple for abusing its dominant position in the iOS app market for listening to music, the agency reported on its website.
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What is known
Apple sets conditions for developers so that they can post their applications in the App Store, and controls user interaction with them. With regard to music subscriptions, the point is that developers could not inform users about subscription prices outside of the application in which the purchase was made through Apple mechanisms, provide links to alternative offers, or contact users by e-mail.
“Apple's behavior over nearly a decade may have resulted in many iOS users paying significantly more for music streaming subscriptions due to the high fees Apple charged developers and passed on to consumers in the form of more high prices for subscriptions,” the EC found.
Read: The EU wants to fine Apple 500 million euros
Such actions are a violation of EU antitrust rules and constitute unfair trading conditions, the commission said. They do not serve to protect the commercial interests of Apple and negatively affect the interests of users.
Recall
Financial Times (FT) wrote that this decision was reached in Brussels after an investigation that the EC conducted following a complaint by the Swedish music service Spotify in 2019.
The company alleged that Apple was imposing its terms on third-party developers due to its exclusive ownership of the App Store and that services competing with Apple Music were charged a 30% commission on payments made through the Apple payment system. The FT noted that this fine would be the first in Apple's history in Europe. True, the newspaper's sources believed that its size would be almost four times less than the announced one – 500 million euros.
Commenting on the fine, Apple said that the EC did not provide evidence of inconvenience to users and anti-competitive behavior of the company. She plans to appeal.
