74 29 May - 11 June 2019 Do you agree? Let us know [email protected]
Thishas beengoing onfor donkey’s
years,but it has cometoa headnow
becauseApplehas since launcheda
highly successfulmusic service of its
own.In fact, AppleMusic isprimedto
overtake Spotifyasthe world’s biggest
paid-for music
subscription
service inthe next
yearorso. Apple,
of course, doesn’t
pay a 30 %cut
toitself, meaning
it has ahuge
competitiveadvantage over Spotify
andthe others.
While Appleeffortlesslybanksits
profits,Spotifyexpectstomakea loss
ofaround£3 00 mthisyear– andstill
get abarrel-loadofgrief fromentitled
pop stars who don’t think Spotifyis
payingthem enough(d on’t get me
started onthattopic). Spotifyhas “no
otherchoice thantoaccept the 30%fee
put inplace,” according totheAt long last, Apple’s arrogant behaviour
looks set to be punished, says Barry Collins
Page 404
company’s CEO,Daniel Ek, “which
essentiallywould meanwe would have
toraiseour pricesfor consumers all
over the world,” hetoldtheFTearlier
thisyear. Thatgot the EU’s attention.
Why amI glad thatAppleisfinally
getting its collarfelt?
Because it’s been
getting awaywith
behaviour thatothers
havebeen heavily
punishedfor. Take
Microsoft, for
instance.It has paid
billions ofEurosinfines and beenforced
tojumpthrough all kindsofhoopsfor
bundlingits InternetExplorerbrowser
with Windows.
WhatdoesAppledowith iOS?
Throwsinthe Safari browser and, even
worse thanMicrosoft, forcescustomers
touse it. You can’t choosea newdefault
browser iniOS,it has tobeSafari. Even
the Chrome,Firefox andotherbrowser
appsavailablefor iOS aren’t really
alternative browsers– they’re all forced
touse the samebrowser engine as
Safari, theyjustlooka bit different.
Applehas sofar gottenawaywith this
because– laughably– it’s not big
enough. Despitefleetinglybeing the
world’s richest company,it doesn’t have
a monopoly-sizedmarket share of the
smartphone, tablet orcomputer
markets, andso isn’t floutingantitrust
legislation.The verything thatmakes
Applesomuchmoney –the high price
of its products –has prevented it from
gaining enough marketshare toget into
hot water over competitionlaw.Talk
about the perfect cr... no, the lawyers
won’t let meuse thatword.
Apple’s behaviour isvastlyanti-
competitive, not tomentionarrogant.
Its comeuppance has beena verylong
timecoming.Apple has sofar
gottenaway with this
because – laughably – it’s
not big enoughy nanwas particularlykeen on
comeuppance.If you parked
outside her house when she’d
“put the bins out”tosavea
spotfor herown car, or ifyou “played
her up”,you’d be admonished with
the same phrase: “you’ll getyour
comeuppance,you will”.
Well, nowit seems Appleisabout
toget adoseofnan’s favourite
punishment. After years ofescaping
the competitionauthorities’ glare,
Appleisreportedlyset for adatewith
EUregulatorstojustify the massive cut
it takes oncertain purchases made
through iOS apps.
For example, if someonedownloads
the free Spotify app fromthe AppStore
andthensigns upfor a£10-a-month
Spotifysubscription via thatapp,Apple
keeps £3of it. Not a£3one-off
commission, but £3for every single
month thatsubscription remains active.
That’s a nicelittleearnerfor doing next
tonothing.
Illust
ra
tion
:Andr
ew
To
rr
ens