Yahoo Finance EU to probe whether Apple used its 'app tax' to suppress Spotify, reports claim
The European Union is preparing to launch a probe into claims by Spotify that Apple has used its market power to suppress competition.
The music streaming app filed an official complaint in March, accusing Apple of exploiting its control of the iPhone App Store to hand an unfair advantage to its own rival service, Apple Music.
It argued that Apple's 30pc cut of revenue from subscriptions sold on its App Store is "discriminatory" and that the phone giant had "tilt[ed] the playing field" by arbitrarily blocked bug fixes, special offers and subscription options.
Now the EU's competition commission has decided to launch a formal antitrust investigation after consulting with customers and other Apple rivals, according to the Financial Times.
It comes as Spotify's dominant position in music streaming comes under new attack, with both Amazon and Google launching free rival services for use on their smart home speakers.
An EU decision to reduce or forbid app store fees could be dangerous for Apple, which is increasingly relying on revenue from services and subscriptions to make up for declining iPhone sales.
Apple and Spotify both declined to comment, but Apple has previously called Spotify's claims "misleading" and accused it of cloaking "financial motivations in misleading rhetoric".
The EU has aggressively pursued American tech giants, fining Google a total of 8.2bn euros (£7bn) in a series of years-long competition probes into its advertising business, its use of search results to direct users towards its own projects and its bundling of software on phones using its Android operating system.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner, recently vowed to continue the fight, saying it was "definitely not done yet", and has said she is looking into the behaviour of Amazon and Apple. Separately, the Commission has ordered Ireland to seize up to 13bn euros from Apple in unpaid back taxes.
If Apple is found to have broken EU law it could be fined at up to 10pc of its global turnover and forced to change its business practices.
