Spotify hits out at Apple after updated app for iPhones rejected

Sewell went on to describe Spotify’s desire to bust out of Apple’s rules on not using its iOS app to push people to subscribe on its website as “simply unfair and unreasonable”, while highlighting Spotify’s app update in late May where in-app subscriptions “had been removed and replaced with an account sign-up feature clearly meant to circumvent Apple’s in-app purchase rules”.

Then on July 1, BuzzFeed News obtained a letter sent by Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell to Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez that said, “We find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers and are publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service”.

According to the letter, Apple recently rejected Spotify’s latest update demanding the service use Apple’s billing system. Spotify considers that the rejection of its application raises “serious concerns” in light of the legislation on free competition in the United States and Europe and that this decision is detrimental. Gutierrez stated that Apple had a history of making Spotify less competitive on iOS smartphones and tablets because it is a rival of Apple Music.

While Sewell doesn’t go as far to say that Apple would remove the app from its store, he says implies that the app won’t be approved for an update until Spotify falls in line. They estimate that, taking 30% of subscriptions to online music services they offer via App Store, the Cupertino company is gaining an unfair advantage.

Spotify does now, of course, compete head on with Apple, since the latter entered the streaming music game a year ago. On June 10, Spotify submitted another version of the app which again incorporated the sign-up feature directing App Store customers to submit an email address so they could be contacted directly by Spotify in a continued attempt to get around our guidelines.

Spotify has earlier accused Apple of following discriminatory practices against its competitors as a ploy to promote its services.

Furthermore, the company has changed its rules in the past few months giving app subscriptions, like Spotify, ability to keep more revenue from their subscribers after the first year. It is not the first time when Spotify and Apple has been fighting over this issue. By this rational, Apple’s rejection of Spotify’s app update requests would violate multiple free antitrust regulations.

It has also been found that celebrities have joined Apple and announced the war against Spotify.

The company has started its own YouTube Music streaming site for both video and audio as well as the subscription-tier YouTube Red video service.