Spotify, the music streaming giant, criticized tech rival Apple over a new subscription bundle that allegedly favors the company’s own Apple Music service over others, Reuters reported.
The Apple One bundle reportedly disadvantages streaming rivals, according to Reuters. Both Spotify and Apple offer $10-a-month packages for streaming, but the new Apple bundle packages its music service with other features, including television and video games, for as little as $15 per month.
Spotify said it is calling on antitrust authorities “to act urgently to restrict Apple’s anti-competitive behavior, which if left unchecked, will cause irreparable harm to the developer community and threaten our collective freedoms to listen, learn, create and connect,” according to Reuters.
In response, Apple said the new bundle is intended for those who already use its services so “customers can discover and enjoy alternatives to every one of Apple’s services,” Reuters reported.
Apple has found itself inundated with antitrust scrutiny as of late. The company has been involved in a much-publicized conflict with Epic Games over its removal of Epic’s Fortnite app from the App Store. The disagreement occurred after Epic tried to circumvent Apple’s payment method by adding its own in-app payment method, which Apple forbade.
The conflict bled into Epic suing Apple for the removal, and Apple, in retaliation, threatening to pull Epic’s account entirely from its platform. The case is ongoing.
In Germany, that case drew attention from regulator Andreas Mundt, who said Apple’s decision to terminate Epic’s account and thus make it impossible for gamers to update Fortnite at the store might merit further inspection.
He noted that the App Store and Google Play are the only two major global app stores. He said it is “interesting” that everyone who wants to put their apps out into the world has to pass through at least one of them.
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