EU finalizing charges against Apple in Spotify antitrust case

A new report says that the EU is finalizing a charge sheet against Apple over an antitrust complaint filed by Spotify.

From Reuters:

EU antitrust regulators are finalising a charge sheet against Apple triggered by a complaint by Swedish music streaming service Spotify, two people familiar with the matter said, with one saying the document may be sent to the iPhone maker before the summer.

The case is one of four opened by the European Commission into Apple in June last year and could force the company to change its lucrative business model.

Despite being one of the Best streaming apps on iPhone, and one of the most popular, Spotify claims to have fallen foul of unfair practices on the part of Apple, including restrictions on third-party music services, and Apple's 30% App Store commission. Recently in iOS 14, Apple included a new setting to change the default music app that works with Siri, and added support for third-party services to HomePod last year.

As the report notes, the EU competition enforcer is likely to list any objectionable behavior from Apple that it considers to be "suspected violations of the bloc's antitrust rules", along with recommendations as to whether a fine should be paid, and actions that can be taken to level the playing field.