Applico CEO Comments on the Apple and Spotify Conflict

Apple recently rejected a new version of Spotify’s app due to a violation in Apple’s terms of service. Spotify was encouraging its users to buy a Spotify Premium subscription on its own website instead of making an in-app purchase. Spotify believes that this bias has been a direct result of Apple’s competing service, Apple Music. Apple has established its right to take 30% of any sale of a digital good purchased within an iOS app and Spotify knows these rules. This is historically where platforms have gotten into trouble. These issues usually arise because platforms take advantage of its producers to advance a competitive offering of its own. As a result, the platform favors its own new business over its existing third party producers.

Overall, Spotify has been placed on Apple’s legal radar after making these claims, which is not an ideal position for the company. Apple is going to have to issue a strong defense that it treats all developers the same in order to prove it does not isolate specific apps to benefit its own products.

To view more about why Apple is likely to win this legal scuffle, click here. And of course, don’t forget to add Alex on Snapchat for more commentary like this.

Filed under: Platform Innovation | Topics: antitrust, apple, platforms, Spotify