The Apple vs. Spotify battle has entered a new phase with Apple slamming the latter’s stand claiming it is seeking ‘preferential treatment’ even though its service has witnessed millions of downloads via the Apple App Store over the years.
Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell, in a letter to his Spotify counterpart, stated the company is seeking a portion of the transaction as a means to support the Apple Store in the first place.
“We find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers and are publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service,” Sewell wrote.
Spotify has earlier accused Apple of following discriminatory practices against its competitors as a ploy to promote its services. The Swedish company further clarified Apple can offer its music streaming service for $10 a month even though competitors like Spotify have to charge higher to account for the cut in revenue that Apple charges. Spotify right now is forced to charge $13 a month for its streaming service, with the extra amount going towards what has come to be known as the “Apple Tax.”
Spotify had earlier tried an alternate billing system by redirecting subscribers to a site external to the app for all transactions. While that might be a bit cumbersome process for its users, it enabled the company to sidestep Apple’s iTunes billing service. Since that denied Apple its share of the revenue, it reacted in the most visible manner barring Spotify to engage in such practices.
Apple had also twice rejected an update to the Spotify app that does not include the in-app subscription feature. It, in turn, sparked the current furor with the Swedish streaming company coming out in the open with its fight against Apple, which it claims is against competition law in the United States and Europe.
Spotify is the largest music streaming company in the world and counts on 30 million paid subscribers. In contrast, Apple Music is less than half its size with around 13 million users. However, given that Apple’s music streaming service has taken around a year to reach that figure is worrisome enough for Spotify as it looks to hold on to the top slot.
