concord to aBloomberg reportthat cites “ people conversant with the investigation , ” regulators in the EU are getting ready to hand down a decision prohibiting Apple ’s anti - steering rules for music services .
presently , Apple requires that digital subscription divine service on iPhone or iPad whirl subscriptions only through Apple ’s own payment processing , for which the society convey 15 to 30 per centum of every leverage . Services like Spotify can allow you to pledge on the vane or somewhere else where they do n’t have to pay Apple a big slash of the in - app - purchase fee , but they ’re very special in their ability to maneuver client to do so . Apple prohibits company like Spotify ( and others ) from actually providing links or other direct substance of letting customers go somewhere else to yield .
Spotify has been crusade this for years , arguing that it throw Apple an unfair advantage with its own Apple Music Robert William Service , and requires them to bring up Price to repair for Apple ’s revenue cut .
The study claim that the commission is , “ set the finishing speck to a decision that would prohibit Apple ’s exercise of block euphony services from pushing their exploiter away from the App Store to alternative subscription options . ” The decision is expected to be handed down early next yr .
It is unclear what on the dot the conclusion would demand of Apple . With past decisions , Apple has been coerce to change its policy ( at least in the EU ) . The company is likely to be given some deadline after which it must countenance compete euphony Service to pop the question subscription option other than Apple ’s own in - app - leverage system . It could be more broad , demanding such concessions beyond just music services . A pecuniary amercement could even be demand : the punishment for run afoul of the EU ’s antitrust regulations in this affair can be as high as 10 percent of a company ’s full yearly global taxation , which in Apple ’s case would be tens of billions of one dollar bill . Such maximal fines are rare , though .
