After being embroiled in legal battles for what is likely starting to feel like centuries to the two companies, Apple and Spotify continue to have disagreements — even after the European Commission's landmark ruling that should allow apps to link to payment methods outside of Apple’s App Store.
We say ‘should’ because Spotify thinks it hasn’t worked. According to The Verge, Spotify has emailed the European Commission, claiming that Apple hasn’t greenlit its latest update because it would allow users to go directly to Spotify’s site to purchase a subscription.
Apple and Spotify at loggerheads again
Spotify reckons that Apple’s behavior is deliberate — that it's all part of Apple’s plan to either ignore the EU’s ruling, or to drag its feet enough that Spotify will never get the benefits of what the ruling was supposed to allow. Spotify says that this is “yet another example of how Apple if unchecked, will seek to circumvent and/or not comply with the Commission’s decision.”
The company wants the European Commission to get in touch with Apple to force the firm's hand and allow Spotify’s changes to go through — and crucially, allow Spotify customers to get a subscription by clicking on a link in the app that takes them directly to Spotify’s website.
Apple has been at the center of a number of different legal troubles in the EU in recent years. The firm now has to allow third-party app stores on its devices after an anti-trust suit with Epic Games, for example, and the aforementioned Spotify case that meant Apple had to allow developers links in their apps to alternative payment methods that didn’t involve the App Store — and that also cost the firm $2 billion. There was even the recent USB-C case that meant Apple had to update the port on the bottom of the best iPhones.
Apple has been vocal in its distaste for the results in court, even going so far as to list the benefits that Spotify gets from Apple with the App Store — although dragging its feet on compliance with the ruling could serve to get it in even more hot water.
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