What you need to know
- Spotify's chief legal officer has been talking to anyone who will listen, this time The Verge.
- A lengthy interview saw Horacio Gutierrez point out the ridiculousness of Apple claiming it didn't know how profitable the App Store is.
Horacio Gutierrez, head of global affairs and chief legal officer of Spotify, isn't happy with Apple. Not one bit. He's been talking with The Verge and anyone else who will listen, going o record as saying that Apple is a "ruthless bully" in the way it deals with others.
Citing the Epic Games trial, Gutierrez said that the treasure trove of internal communications made available was particularly interesting. But just as interesting was what we didn't learn, saying that Apple's stance that the App Store – and its users – needs to be protected is notable because it doesn't enforce its own rules consistently.
There's a lot of very interesting internal communications that really reveal the way Apple executives were thinking about the App Store, and the imposition of Apple's payment system, and their intent to lock in users and things like that. So obviously in that sense, the trial has been very revealing.The other thing is, it's remarkable how little we learned about Apple's explanation for these things. They continue to go back to the same pretextual explanations for why they do what they do. They continue to say, "Well, we have to protect the privacy and security of our users and that's why we have to charge 30 percent and have all these other restrictions." But how can it be indispensable for them to do all those things in order to protect privacy and security when they don't even apply those rules to a number of other apps that are on the App Store?
Gutierrez also brought up the fact Apple seemed unable to answer questions about how profitable the App Store is. The idea that the company doesn't have that data "defies credulity for Apple."
When asked whether Spotify would accept a proposal that saw third-party payment processing made available to music streaming apps but not games, Gutierrez said that yes, it would be a move the company would pursue. But not for its own gains, you understand. Oh no. Because it helps continue the conversation.
Would I hold out the solution to the problem in wanting to stream until the problem for all industries were solved? It's a hypothetical, but I would tell you, I [would] take the win. But it doesn't mean the discussion is over.
I bet he would. You can read more gems over in the original article on The Verge.
Ignoring Spotify for a moment, Apple Music's new lossless audio goes live this month. Check out our collection of the best wired headphones for Apple Musisc and make sure you're good to go ahead of time.
