Apple is facing the antitrust investigation in Europe over two of its services, Apple Music and Apple News respectively. The antitrust inquiry is initiated after receiving complaints that the company is preferring its apps and services instead of neutrally promoting the apps and services from other developers. The trust complaint currently included only two services from Apple, but might also include other services in coming days. Also, the complaint may be filed in the European courts for Google Play Store discrimination for other Google’s services and apps.
The Spotify has filed the antitrust complaint against Apple for preferring Apple Music over Spotify in the Apple App Store. After this complaint, The Netherlands’ Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) will investigate Apple and will examine if the company is favouring its services on the App Store platform over the apps from other developers. It’s not just about the Apple Music, but a Dutch News app has filed the complaint which claimed the similar treatment for their app over Apple News. So, the Apple News and Apple Music are under scrutiny from the Netherlands’ Authority of Consumers and Markets.
According to the report published by ACM, the iOS ecosystem is so close, that there is no alternative for the App Store and that is bottlenecking the potential of the operating system and helping Apple to retain the Monopoly over its eco-system. Also, the 30% (first year) or 15% (renewal) commissions structure for Apple App Store developers might disrupt the competitive environment, ultimately favouring Apple’s Apps in the long run. According to the ACM, the number of complaints about the monopolistic practices of Apple is enough for launching a formal investigation since the company is doing it for a long time. This is not the first time Apple has been framed for following monopolistic practices, as many of the critics started objecting about Apple iTunes dominance from 2007.
