EU finalizing charges against Apple in Spotify antitrust case

Spotify
Spotify (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • The EU is finalizing a charge sheet against Apple over its antitrust case with Spotify.
  • Spotify filed a complaint with the EU over restrictions on third-party music services and Apple's 30% fee on developers.

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.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9