‘Apple refuses our audiobooks app in the App Store’
It should be clear: Spotify and Apple cannot go through the same door. Now Spotify is publicly attacking Apple for its strict policy on audiobooks in the App Store.
Read on after the ad.
Spotify: ‘Apple App Store is deliberately in the way’
They look like toddlers, but in reality they are billion dollar companies. Spotify’s ‘mud-throw’ website Time to Play Fair has been live for a while, but got a new update today. This time Spotify opens the attack on Apple because of the difficult launch of audiobooks in the Spotify app via the App Store. The latter really doesn’t make it easy.
The new position was rejected three times during the app review due to a violation of Apple’s “in-app purchases” rules. Yesterday, the new version of the Spotify app, with a sub-section especially for audiobooks, was only approved in the App Store. However, nothing is left of the part, according to Spotify.
How Spotify’s audiobooks app should have worked
The finally approved part is now, after the whole update, nine steps long. Originally, Spotify wanted to make this less complicated. The purpose of Spotify was to let the users browse audiobooks within the Spotify app. Do you like one? Then they can immediately purchase the book and start listening.
However, the streaming service does not want to hand over 30% of this revenue to Apple. Therefore, Spotify from the App Store is not allowed to sell the audiobooks directly from its own app. As a result, Spotify users are directed to an external website. Too cumbersome according to Spotify, so it was high time to add a new chapter to this public feud.
Not the first fight between Spotify and Apple
Spotify is now complaining on the page, saying that this is just another case. Apple is said to exercise “anti-competitive dominance” in the app economy. Spotify first filed a formal complaint with the European Commission in 2019, but it has been complaining about it for much longer.
The complaints are therefore not unjustified. Apple carefully controls how third-party apps can make in-app purchases available. With the help of a team of lawyers, Spotify has solved this legal maze in nine steps. That’s the easiest way to make in-app purchases without giving Apple 30% of the revenue.
It just goes to show how unfair the playing field is in the app market. Whether anything will actually change about this digital monopoly remains to be seen. We hope to find out in the coming years. In the meantime, read our comparison of Spotify and Apple Music. We also wrote an article in which we wondered which app best supports the musician behind the music.
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