EU Assessing Apple Compliance Plan That Provoked Anger

The European Commission has said it is evaluating an Apple proposal to comply with an EU order to allow music streaming services such as Spotify to inform users about alternative payment options outside Apple’s App Store.

Late on Friday Apple changed its developer guidelines to allow music streaming services to inform users of such deals via a link to the developer’s website, following the order and a 1.8bn euro ($2bn, £1.5bn) fine levied by the Commission early last month.

But the iPhone maker angered some developers by saying it would continue to charge a commission of up to 27 percent on sales resulting from the link within seven days, with the fee continuing to apply to auto-renewing subscriptions.

“We are currently assessing whether Apple has fully complied with the decision,” a spokesperson for the Commission said.

Compliance

“In general, if the Commission suspects that there is non-compliance with an adopted decision, it will send the undertaking concerned a Statement of Objections.”

Apple’s new guidelines say developers can provide information to users about alternative means of payment via a link or by inviting users to provide an email address.

An Apple spokesperson said the company’s plan complies with the EU order and argued the decision does not apply to Apple’s fee structure.

Spotify said it was still waiting for Apple to comply with the Commission’s decision, five weeks later.

The music streaming service has said it had to raise prices due to Apple’s allegedly abusive restrictions on iPhone apps.

New rules

Apple originally said it planned to challenge the Commission’s decision, saying the authority failed to “uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast”.

“While we respect the European Commission, the facts simply don’t support this decision,” Apple said at the time.

The company is being separately investigated under new Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules, along with Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta, over suspicion that its compliance plans are not sufficient.

In January, after Apple announced its compliance plans and before the probe was officially initiated, an analyst said Apple’s proposed measures showed “disdain” for the new EU rules.