The European Commission upholds Spotify's anti-trust complaint against Apple

[Redaktion]

The European Commission (EC) has issued a preliminary verdict as a result of its anti-trust investigation against Apple. It concerns the treatment of third-party music apps on its App Store. The Commission has ruled that the OEM leverages its "dominant position" in this market to subvert competition and consumer choice, particularly when it comes to payment methods and rates.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-European-Commission-upholds-Spotify-s-anti-trust-complaint-against-Apple.536570.0.html

[galak]

no problem, apple is reach  :)

[weeweeb]

I firmly believe that hardware vendors shouldn't be allowed to sell software. Apple is currently subsidizing their marketing and hardware with their services, to the point where they almost control the U.S. hardware market. Xiaomi is trying to do something similar in China.

A company like Apple - that differently from Xiaomi doesn't allow for you to switch your OS - could, after capturing the market, simply raise all of the costs for services (Including their margins on other companies' apps) and the consumers would have nothing to do but accept that (Since switching to an Android would mean losing access to the stupid Apple-exclusive ecossystem).

If the U.S. wasn't a dozen corporations in a trenchcoat they'd have broken up Apple Hardware+OS from Apple Software.

[_MT_]

I firmly believe that hardware vendors shouldn't be allowed to sell software...

That's not a trivial problem to solve. Consumers are limited in many ways in how they can use products they buy. It's part of the package. You either accept it or you don't buy it. In this case, the problem isn't that they supply their own software. It's that they are interfering with competition. If the platform came from a third party, it would've changed nothing. Yes, the hardware side of the business is less interesting. But it's not like they're selling their devices at a loss. At worst, they would have to bump their prices a bit. And even with a third party, there is a potential to be paid for the use of the software. Kind of like how Google pays Mozilla to use their search as the default option. Or how Microsoft gave Windows 10 upgrade away for free. Since they're making money on services, they don't have to charge for the platform. They might make more money by giving it away or even paying for it being used. This is also how social networks work. Actually, the more important split would be between software and services, not software and hardware. But as I already wrote, Goole pays Mozilla.

It would also make it more difficult to bring new innovative products to the market. You'd have to find a partner, you might have to "bribe them" to take it on board (pay them for doing it, lowering the risk they carry). It would really solve nothing, just make it more difficult for the new guys. Not to mention that, for example, drivers are also software.