Spotify accuses Apple of blocking app update
July 4, 2016
Music subscription service Spotify has accused Apple of blocking its latest app update. Spotify says Apple will only make its update available if it agrees to use Apple’s own billing system. It says Apple rules are designed to damage Spotify, reducing competition to its own music streaming service, Apple Music.
The move is “causing grave harm”, Spotify says. Details of Spotify’s initial legal letter to Apple have been shared online. “We cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors,” Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez wrote in a communication with Apple’s lawyers.
Apple charges companies up to 30 per cent of income made to use its iTunes billing service and offers no alternative. If companies refuse to comply with Apple’s requirements, their product may be removed from the App store – the only way to distribute apps onto iPhones.
Meanwhile, Rumours are circulating that Apple could acquire Jay Z’s music subscription service Tidal and merge it into Apple Music – creating a bigger rival for Spotify.