Spotify lay the blame on Apple for hampering its audiobook business
Last month Spotify introduced its audiobook business with around 300,000 titles. In a blog post, the company accused Apple to engage in anticompetitive behavior. The company mentioned that Apple is impacting the new business. In addition to this, the company stated that its audiobook purchasing system was rejected by Apple over three times. This rejection is portrayed as a violation of the rules. In this scenario, the audiobooks were sold out of the main app through an email link. Moreover, the prices of audiobooks were also kept hidden.
The company mentions various disadvantages of the recent strategy adopted by Apple. First and foremost, the recent shift has made it difficult for Spotify to compete. While talking about users, the major drawback is that they can’t compare prices. In addition to users, publishers and authors are also facing a challenging situation. As the company mentions that buyers find it inconvenient to buy their audiobooks by clicking on a link.
According to Apple’s statement to The New York Times, the audiobooks by Spotify could be easily accepted if they had complied with the rules. The spokesperson of Apple mentions that Spotify was cleared on the said issue. They were guided on how to solve the problem. After they made the necessary changes their app was approved.
Although Spotify could access App Store’s purchasing system and sell its products. But that too was a major disadvantage as Apple would take charge of a 30 percent cut. This would seriously damage Spotify’s audiobook sales against Apple books. Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, says that given their launch of Audiobooks, Apple is adopting a way too audacious strategy for its competitors by constantly changing the App Store rules.
Spotify and Apple are already in competition over music subscriptions. Clearly, the thirty percent commission damages the consumers. Ek said that almost four years ago they filed a complaint against Apple with the European commission. He mentioned that they are still waiting for the final verdict. Though, European Commission issued Apple a Statement of Objection for breaching EU laws.
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