After Years of Legal Wrangling, Apple Now Allows Spotify to Show EU Users Pricing in App, and Tells Them They Can Sign Up on the Web
Spotify, in an update to an older post on the company blog:
While we are still many steps from a level playing field, we are
beginning to see progress because of the European Commission’s
historic decision on March 4, 2024 which found that Apple
violated the EU’s antitrust laws and fined them over €1.8
billion. Starting today, Spotify is opting into Apple’s
“entitlement” for music streaming services, created after
the European Commission’s ruling. This means we will finally be
able to offer something as obvious as it is overdue: iPhone
consumers in the EU will now see pricing information for Spotify
in the app and the fact that they can go to our website to
purchase items directly.
Jess Weatherbed, at The Verge:
One thing that’s missing is the ability to click a link to make
those purchases from outside the Apple App Store. Spotify says
it’s opting into the “music streaming services entitlement”
that Apple introduced after being served a €1.84 billion (about $2
billion) EU antitrust fine in March for “abusing its
dominant position” in music streaming, rather than accepting the
complicated new developer terms Apple outlined last week.
Unlike the entitlement, the latter would allow EU developers to
link to external payment options with Apple taking a cut of
off-platform sales. Spotify clearly doesn’t want to do that,
saying that Apple is demanding “illegal and predatory taxes.”
So after all this, all that Spotify’s app is now doing differently in the EU is (a) showing the prices of its available plans, and (b) telling users, without offering a tappable link, that to sign up, they need to go to Spotify’s website. It doesn’t even tell you the URL of the website, it just says “To buy Premium, go to the Spotify website.”
For anyone who isn’t paying close attention to these arguments over Apple’s draconian anti-steering terms for apps, it is surely very surprising that it took years of legal wrangling and a $2 billion fine (which, it should be noted, Apple hasn’t yet paid, and which quite possibly will be reduced or thrown out upon appeal) just to allow Spotify to present this information to users. Just to tell them the price and tell them they need to go to Spotify’s website to sign up.
These anti-steering provisions are indefensible. They make Apple look bad in the court of public opinion, and they look even worse in actual courts of law.
★
Spotify, in an update to an older post on the company blog:
While we are still many steps from a level playing field, we are
beginning to see progress because of the European Commission’s
historic decision on March 4, 2024 which found that Apple
violated the EU’s antitrust laws and fined them over €1.8
billion. Starting today, Spotify is opting into Apple’s
“entitlement” for music streaming services, created after
the European Commission’s ruling. This means we will finally be
able to offer something as obvious as it is overdue: iPhone
consumers in the EU will now see pricing information for Spotify
in the app and the fact that they can go to our website to
purchase items directly.
Jess Weatherbed, at The Verge:
One thing that’s missing is the ability to click a link to make
those purchases from outside the Apple App Store. Spotify says
it’s opting into the “music streaming services entitlement”
that Apple introduced after being served a €1.84 billion (about $2
billion) EU antitrust fine in March for “abusing its
dominant position” in music streaming, rather than accepting the
complicated new developer terms Apple outlined last week.
Unlike the entitlement, the latter would allow EU developers to
link to external payment options with Apple taking a cut of
off-platform sales. Spotify clearly doesn’t want to do that,
saying that Apple is demanding “illegal and predatory taxes.”
So after all this, all that Spotify’s app is now doing differently in the EU is (a) showing the prices of its available plans, and (b) telling users, without offering a tappable link, that to sign up, they need to go to Spotify’s website. It doesn’t even tell you the URL of the website, it just says “To buy Premium, go to the Spotify website.”
For anyone who isn’t paying close attention to these arguments over Apple’s draconian anti-steering terms for apps, it is surely very surprising that it took years of legal wrangling and a $2 billion fine (which, it should be noted, Apple hasn’t yet paid, and which quite possibly will be reduced or thrown out upon appeal) just to allow Spotify to present this information to users. Just to tell them the price and tell them they need to go to Spotify’s website to sign up.
These anti-steering provisions are indefensible. They make Apple look bad in the court of public opinion, and they look even worse in actual courts of law.