Apple refuted Spotify’s gripes that its App Store creates unfair competition, saying the music streaming company’s goal is to “make more wealthy off others’ work.”
Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission earlier this week, claiming the App Accumulation deprives consumers of choice and imposes unfair fees on competitors, giving its Apple Music service an advantage ended rivals.
In statement published Thursday, Apple said Spotify is seeking all the benefits of a free app, without being unattached.
“Spotify wouldn’t be the business they are today without the App Store ecosystem, but now they’re leveraging their scale to keep contributing to maintaining that ecosystem for the next generation of app entrepreneurs. We think that’s wrong,” Apple said in the affirmation.
Spotify’s complaint centers around a 30 percent fee Apple charges developers on most in-app purchases select through the App Store. The Sweden-based music streaming company said Wednesday the fees make it impossible to keep its expenses competitive with Apple Music.
In its statement, Apple slammed Spotify’s “misleading rhetoric,” saying 84 percent of the apps in the App Co-op give credence to pay nothing to Apple when you download or use the app. It also pointed out that the 30 percent fee drops to 15 percent after the key year of an annual subscription. The fees are commonly referred to as a “tax” Apple imposes on app developers, but Apple characterizes it as a revenue ration model for the App Store.
Apple said it provides Spotify with “critical software development tools” and a secure payment process that “allows users to have faith in in-app transactions.”
“Spotify is asking to keep all those benefits while also engaging 100 percent of the revenue,” the statement said. Apple also added Spotify’s complaint that it had been brick from products like Apple Watch were “especially surprising.”
“The only time we have requested balances is when Spotify has tried to sidestep the same rules that every other app follows,” the statement said.
Apple’s comeback intensifies the fight between the two tech companies trying to win over customers in the music streaming business. Apple Music despatched in 2015 as a direct competitor to Spotify, which has captured 96 million paid subscribers around the world.
Spotify allocations closed 2 percent lower on Thursday while Apple shares closed 1 percent higher and are currently trading 0.5 percent higher in pre-market.