Spotify General Counsel Loves Apple Products, But Criticizes The Company
Horacio Gutierrez, the legal director of Spotify, speaks again about Apple. After estimating last month that the iPhone maker was “A ruthless bully” who “Hinders its competitors”, the executive says they love products like the iPhone and Apple Watch. But that doesn’t stop him from criticizing Apple’s practices.
Spotify General Counsel talks about Apple
“Apple is a great company, it is incredibly successful and is admirable in so many ways. I am a fan of Apple products, I have always been ”, said Spotify’s legal director in an interview with The Verge. He adds that he was seen with an Apple Watch on his wrist during a recent hearing and that has surprised some, given that Spotify and Apple are not really on good terms. “The reality is that you can admire a company, much of what it has done and the beautiful products it has created, while remaining critical of how it behaves in certain aspects of it. his activity. It’s clear to me that when it comes to their policies around app stores and how they deal with [non seulement] competing applications, but also a whole variety of applications on their App Store, it is simply unfair ”, estimates Horacio Gutierrez.
According to him, the regulatory attention that Apple is experiencing, especially with its recent lawsuit with Epic Games, is normal given the situation. He adds that Spotify wants Apple to stop forcing developers to use its payment method within apps. This means involves a commission of 15% or 30% (depending on the income of the developers) on each transaction.
Regarding the Apple vs Epic Games trial, the legal director of Spotify notes that several documents have provided information. “There’s a lot of really interesting internal communications that really reveal how Apple executives were thinking about the App Store, about enforcing Apple’s payment system, their intention to lock down users and things like that “, he said.
Apple is not honest about revenue
The executive also believes that Apple’s claim about the App Store and not knowing how much its store generates is a lie. “You’re talking about tens of billions of dollars in revenue, according to the estimates that are circulating. It’s not like the budget for printer screen cartridges at Apple, it’s a huge amount of revenue. I think it defies all credibility for Apple to say that they don’t do this for the money and they haven’t even asked how much money they make here ”.
The lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games took place in the United States with consequently American justice. Another case, in Europe this time, concerns Apple and its potentially anti-competitive practices. This follows a complaint from Spotify in 2019.
