apple eu more trouble
10 months ago
Published April 11, 2022 by

More trouble for Apple Music in the EU

From Foo Yun Chee's "EXCLUSIVE Apple faces extra EU antitrust charge in music streaming probe" which moved Monday on the Reuters wire:

Apple faces an additional EU antitrust charge in the coming weeks in an investigation triggered by a complaint from Spotify, a person familiar with the matter said, a sign that EU enforcers are strengthening their case against the U.S. company.

The European Commission last year accused the iPhone maker of distorting competition in the music streaming market via restrictive rules for its App Store that force developers to use its own in-app payment system and prevent them from informing users of other purchasing options...

Under new EU tech rules called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) agreed last month, such practices are illegal. However Apple and other U.S. tech giants targeted by the rules will have a couple of years before the crackdown starts.

"The DMA is still two years away. The rules will probably apply to Apple at the beginning of 2024. This is why antitrust cases remain important," said lawyer Damien Geradin at Geradin Partners, who is advising several app developers in other cases against Apple.

Pro tip: When a reporter cites an unnamed source in high up in a story and then quotes someone by name further down, 9 times out of 10 that someone is the source.

6 Comments

  1. Neal Guttenberg said:
    So Apple is in an important position in music streaming but is not the dominant company and gets targeted. Right now, at least superficially, this reminds me of the Amazon/Book Store case which started out with an anti Apple bias. We will have to see if the same bias will be applied to Apple in this case. My guess is yes. Sigh.

    4
    April 11, 2022
  2. Robert Paul Leitao said:
    Spotify is a founding member of the so-called Coalition For App Fairness pressing its home court advantage – the EU. This is nothing new, in my view.

    7
    April 11, 2022
  3. Daniel Epstein said:
    Well if Apple can be charged as breaking a law which hasn’t been approved and or enforced yet then it is starting to feel more like the Irish tax case. And if Philip is correct about the source of this news then it it likely self serving even if it is correct.

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    April 11, 2022
  4. Michael Goldfeder said:
    Just another twist and turn in the ongoing Vestager knows best saga. She so reminds me of the Straw-man from the Wizard of Oz. Always in search of a brain.

    5
    April 11, 2022
    • Robert Paul Leitao said:
      Michael: Perhaps more like the Tin Man. She definitely doesn’t have a heart for Apple.

      1
      April 11, 2022
      • Michael Goldfeder said:
        That works too. Although we can take an entirely different approach to the movie and analogize her to the character who had the briefest amount of silver screen time in the flick: “The Wicked Witch of the East.” It still brings a tear to my eye thinking about that house landing on her.

        1
        April 11, 2022

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