The News
The European Union fined Apple €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion) for breaking the bloc’s competition laws following an antitrust complaint raised by Spotify.
The EU said Apple had stifled Spotify and other music streaming services by restricting them from informing consumers about payment options outside of Apple’s App Store.
“For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market,” said Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s executive vice-president of competition policy. “They did so by restricting developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.”
Apple plans to appeal the decision, saying it “was reached despite the Commission’s failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast.”
SIGNALS
Apple faces similar threat from US authorities
Apple has come under fire for similar antitrust allegations in the U.S., and last week senior executives from the company met with officials at the Department of Justice in hopes of persuading them not to file an antitrust lawsuit, Bloomberg reported. Executives met with Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter — and such meetings are usually a final step before a lawsuit is filed. Apple is alleged to have imposed restrictions on its devices to stop competition from other companies, and a suit is expected this month, the outlet noted.
Concerns over Apple’s policies ‘justified,’ former attorney general says
Tech companies have consolidated power and deserve more scrutiny, former Attorney General William Barr wrote in The Wall Street Journal last week. Apple uses its massive market reach — it accounts for about 50% of mobile phones in the U.S. — to stymie competition, forcing software developers to use its App Store to reach consumers and taking huge cuts of their profits, he noted. “Apple uses an arsenal of tactics whose anticompetitive effects … taken cumulatively, work powerfully to suppress competition,” Barr wrote. “To make headway, a Justice Department challenge must address these tactics comprehensively and force Apple to demonstrate that the handicaps it inflicts on rivals are essential to achieving legitimate security and privacy requirements.”
