The European Commission has issued a formal ‘statement of objections’ against Apple, saying today that its preliminary view is Apple’s app store rules distort competition in the market for music streaming services by raising the costs of competing music streaming app developers. Apple has a period of 12 weeks to respond to the preliminary charges. The Commission begun investigating competition concerns related to iOS App Store (and also Apple Pay) last summer. But today’s charges relate only to music streaming apps, and the App Store’s role as a gatekeeper for such apps to access iOS users. This is also a market where Apple competes, with its eponymous offering (Apple Music). “The Commission takes issue with the mandatory use of Apple’s own in-app purchase mechanism imposed on music streaming app developers to distribute their apps via Apple’s App Store,” it wrote. “The Commission is also concerned that Apple applies certain restrictions on app developers preventing them from informing iPhone and iPad users of alternative, cheaper purchasing possibilities.” The statement of objections focuses on two rules that Apple imposes in its agreements with music streaming app developers: Namely what the Commission said is a “mandatory” requirement to use Apple’s proprietary in-app purchase system (IAP) to distribute paid digital content (with the Commission stating that Apple charges a 30% commission fee on all such subscriptions bought via IAP); and ‘anti-steering provisions‘ which limit the ability of developers to inform users of alternative purchasing options. “The Commission’s investigation showed that most streaming providers passed… Click below to read the full story from TechCrunch
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Europe charges Apple with antitrust breach, citing Spotify App Store complaint
