FOH Business: EU fines Apple €1.8bn over App Store restrictions on music streaming

[El Presidente]

We have a burgeoning business community on FOH and I thought this would be of interest as it is a touch more than a "shot across the bow" of a Tech monolith. Now apple is a 2.7 USD Trillion company with revenues of 120 billion. I am an unabashed admirer (if not user) of Apple and it's management under Tim Cook.

My gut feel is that this ruling/fine is as much a message to all tech giants as it is to Apple. Apple will appeal. 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/04/eu-fines-apple-18bn-over-app-store-restrictions-on-music-streaming

 

"Apple has been fined €1.8bn (£1.5bn) by the EU after an investigation found it had limited competition from music streaming services such as Spotify."

 

[AshesToExcellence]

Agreed. And let’s not forget, Apple has faced similar rulings in Japan, the Netherlands and Korea. And still hasn’t paid a dime.

From the Apple perspective, Spotify's app has been downloaded like crazy—over 119 billion times. And it's all over their devices, available in more than 160 countries. But here’s the kicker: despite all that success, and the App Store playing a big part in it, Spotify isn't paying Apple a dime. Apple's not happy about it, of course. They're saying it's because Spotify and a bunch of other developers are choosing to sell subscriptions on their own websites instead of through the app. And since Apple doesn't get a cut from those sales, well, they're feeling a bit miffed about it.

[Fuzz]

So, Apple refuses to pay fines for anti-competitiveness behaviour by having a closed app structure, and are miffed that Spotify aren't paying them because they give users a cheaper alternative outside of the Apple App store.

Yeah, boohoo, Apple.

[MrBirdman]

On 3/4/2024 at 7:29 PM, AshesToExcellence said:

Agreed. And let’s not forget, Apple has faced similar rulings in Japan, the Netherlands and Korea. And still hasn’t paid a dime.

From the Apple perspective, Spotify's app has been downloaded like crazy—over 119 billion times. And it's all over their devices, available in more than 160 countries. But here’s the kicker: despite all that success, and the App Store playing a big part in it, Spotify isn't paying Apple a dime. Apple's not happy about it, of course. They're saying it's because Spotify and a bunch of other developers are choosing to sell subscriptions on their own websites instead of through the app. And since Apple doesn't get a cut from those sales, well, they're feeling a bit miffed about it.

Easily fixed by charging them a per-download fee, but apparently Apple thinks it’s more effective to sabotage them. But regulators are onto their game - their ability to profit off anti-competitive design is being dramatically cut back. 

As someone locked into the Apple ecosystem, I would like to thank the EU for forcing them to finally adopt USB-C.

[Fuzz]

1 hour ago, MrBirdman said:

Easily fixed by charging them a per-download fee, but apparently Apple thinks it’s more effective to sabotage them. But regulators are onto their game - their ability to profit off anti-competitive design is being dramatically cut back. 

As someone locked into the Apple ecosystem, I would like to thank the EU for forcing them to finally adopt USB-C.

They were not forced to adopt USB-C!

After a lot of research, development and refinement, and many requests by fans, they are bringing the innovation of USB-C to the iPhone 15  .... with USB 2 transfer rates (480Mb/s) and max 20W charging, unless you shucked out many clams for the Pro Max.

[MrBirdman]

18 hours ago, Fuzz said:

They were not forced to adopt USB-C!

After a lot of research, development and refinement, and many requests by fans, they are bringing the innovation of USB-C to the iPhone 15  .... with USB 2 transfer rates (480Mb/s) and max 20W charging, unless you shucked out many clams for the Pro Max.

Starting in 2025 they will have to adopt the full standard, but their refusal to do so until then is indicative of how stagnant their business model has become.