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Apple Says Spotify Wants 'the Benefits of a Free App Without Being Free' (engadget.com)
Apple has responded to Spotify's European Commission (EC) complaint. In a press release, the company said that Spotify "seeks to keep all the benefits of the App Store ecosystem ... without making any contributions to that marketplace." It added that the App Store has generated $120 billion for developers while offering users a secure platform, and that Spotify is seeking to side to sidestep the rules that every other app follows. From a report: "Spotify has every right to determine their own business model, but we feel an obligation to respond when Spotify wraps its financial motivations in misleading rhetoric about who we are," the company wrote. Spotify's main argument was that Apple's own music service, Apple Music, isn't subject to the same restrictions of its own app. "[A]pps should be able to compete fairly on the merits, and not based on who owns the App Store," wrote CEO Daniel Ek. "We should all be subject to the same fair set of rules and restrictions -- including Apple Music." It added that Apple had often stymied it on app updates and locked it out of Apple services, "such as Siri, HomePod and Apple Watch." Finally, it noted that Apple had blocked communication with its own customers on things like special offers. In response, Apple addressed each complaint point by point, while criticizing Spotify's treatment of musicians and artists. It said that it has approved nearly 200 app updates, and "the only time we have requested adjustments is when Spotify has tried to sidestep the same rules that every app follows."
The TRUTH is, Apple is a dick when it comes to the handling of the app store and its walled garden iron fist controls. They could be better and should be.
The TRUTH is, Spotify is ruining music in many ways by paying fractions of pennies in royalties. Some artists with millions of song plays have received on $80 for a year of royalties. Fix that, then stop trying to side step app store rules. They could be better and should be.
Two companies who are both pulling bullshit are mad at the other for pulling bullshit. That's the Truth.
Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
They likely do so, for legal purposes. For example, when Facebook or Google use their own advertising platforms to advertise to their visitors, they must pay just the same as anyone else would. Sure, it basically come out of the budget in one part of the company and goes into another, but it has to be done, and all applicable state and federal taxes must be paid too. It's not completely free to them, even on their own platforms.
"the only time we have requested adjustments is when Spotify has tried to sidestep the same rules that every app other than an Apple app follows."
That extra, bolded part, is what Spotify is complaining about, Apple. You have terms you are hell-bent on forcing on others, but you don't have to play by those rules yourself, do you...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
The situation is not quite as simple as that though. Apple has a monopoly on the market for everyone that uses iPhone while a brick and mortar store would have to compete against other stores. It's more comparable to Visa and Mastercard taking a 30% cut of each sale made at every store unless it's a store owned by Visa/Mastercard.
If Apple had a completely unlocked phone where multiple appmarketplaces could compete for customers they could charge a 90% cut for all I care. But when they lock out the competition it gets very shady. In my mind they are abusing their monopoly position just like Microsoft and Intel did in their heydays, to the detriment of us all.
Any other payment service charge will be around 2% but they try to justify 30% (but hey you get to 15% eventually right?). Apple also acts like they are the ones causing the downloads... no dude you are just a large market share of phones. Not every app gets 300 million downloads, it is the quality of the app that causes that. Stop trying to take credit for other people's work.
What are Spotify getting for the 30% every month though for each user, after the user finds the app and installs it. For most apps that 30% usually of a small figure like £1 or £2 is almost like a listing fee, 30 to 60 pence to have you app on the store and in the search results.
A Spotify subscription costs £9.99 per month, and if you pay for it through the phone with your Apple Account £3 of that goes to Apple every month (for the first year). Apple aren't running any of Spotify servers, they aren't paying musicians with that money. They are offering the exact same services as the other apps get but for a monthly fee rather than a one of payment.
I think the most reasonable compromise would be 30% of the first month.
Do you do that in real life too? Just run up to people in a conversation and tell them to stop talking about what they want to talk about and start talking about what you want to talk about?
If Apple had a completely unlocked phone where multiple appmarketplaces could compete for customers they could charge a 90% cut for all I care. But when they lock out the competition it gets very shady. In my mind they are abusing their monopoly position just like Microsoft and Intel did in their heydays, to the detriment of us all.
I have an Apple iPhone; I'm on my second one. Prior to my first one I had an iPod Touch. I have deliberately chosen the iPhone over all of its Android competitors because of the way that Apple has built IOS and the way that Apple administers the app store. Although I appreciate being able to freely install and run software on my home computer, I also appreciate the "walled garden" approach on my phone as I want it to work more like an appliance and less like another system that I have to administer. I don't see how this could work as effectively without Apple's "monopoly" power over their app store. If I wasn't happy with that, I could easily have chosen a platform with an alternative approach, namely Android. Apple's "monopoly" is over their product and what can run on their product. In my opinion that control is PART OF THE PRODUCT and is one of the things that causes me to choose Apple over Android.