A year ago, the Dutch competition authority sought to determine whether the Apple brand's App Store wasguilty of abuse of dominant position in relation to the competition. In question, the potential favoritism of its own services to the detriment of third-party applications.
The subject does not yet seem closed, so much so that the European Commission has announced the opening of a new investigation into the App Store. The reasons given are quite similar to those of the previous investigation, namely, a possible violation of competition rules.
The executive vice-president of the Commission, Margrethe Vestager says: “We must ensure that Apple's rules do not distort competition in markets where it competes with other app developers, for example with its music streaming service Apple Music or with Apple Books. I therefore decided to take a close look at Apple's App Store rules and their compliance with EU competition rules».
This decision caused Spotify to react, because the music streaming platform attacked the App Store some time ago, judging among other things that the online store was taking too high a commission - 30%. This will be part of the points covered by this investigation, along with the fact that developers are not allowed to tell users that they can make purchases outside of Apple's service.
The music streaming service thus mentioned that it was a “good day for consumers, Spotify and other app developers in Europe and around the world».
Our goal has always been to level the playing field and today is a good day for consumers, Spotify and other app developers around the world.https://t.co/CmhmU1VjvJ
— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal)June 16, 2020
The App Store is targeted, but also Apple Pay
The European Commission will also take a closer look at Apple Pay for the same reasons. The investigation will focus on Apple's rules dedicated to the integration of the payment service in applications, but also the NFC function.
On this subject, Margrethe Vestager details: “It appears that Apple sets the conditions for the use of Apple Pay in applications and on merchant websites. It also reserves the 'tap and go' functionality of iPhones for Apple Pay. It is important that Apple's measures do not deprive consumers of the benefits offered by new payment technologies, particularly in terms of choice, quality, innovation and competitive prices.».
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By : Keleops AG
