What you need to know
- Another antitrust complaint has been formally lodged against Apple.
- Rakuten subsidiary Kobo has complained to the European Commission.
- It says it's unfair that Apple takes a 30% cut off ebook sales whilst promoting Apple Books.
Another formal complaint about Apple's anticompetitive practices has been filed with the European Commission, this time by Rakuten subsidiary Kobo.
According to The Verge, a new Financial Times report details the complaint.
Rakuten filed the complaint back in March, alleging that it is anti-competitive of Apple to take a 30% commission on ebook sales through the App Store, whilst at the same time promoting its own Apple Books service.
As the report notes, this is similar to a 2019 complaint from Spotify which argued Apple was stifling competition and consumer choice by favoring its own Apple Music platform. Apple takes a 30% cut of Spotify subscription fees in the first year, and 15% thereafter.
Rakuten and Spotify join Tile, which has also written to the EU's Margrethe Vestager, urging the EU to examine Apple's behavior. From that report:
It seems Tile is concerned that "recent changes" to Apple's operating system have frustrated the Tile user experience for customers. The report further notes that Apple is rumored to be launching its own 'AirTags', a direct rival to Tile's own products.In the letter, seen by FT, Tile's General Counsel reportedly said that Apple had taken "several steps to completely disadvantage Tile" in the past twelve months, making it harder for customers to use Tile's products and services. Tile also cited Apple's new FindMy app which competes directly, and further cited the preparation of Apple's "competitive hardware product."
