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Comment by lapcat | Hacker News Reader

The European Commission announcement: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_... (ironically with cookie banner)

Apple's response: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/03/the-app-store-spotify...

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> Apple's conduct, which lasted for almost ten years, may have led many iOS users to pay significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions [...]

Apple Music and Spotify subscriptions cost exactly the same.

Not mentioned: Apple pays more than double the royalties of Spotify.

Yes but Spotify gets only 70% of that cut while apple gets 100%. Without the apple tax Spotify might be able to either go down in price or increase quality/breadth/payouts to creators/other offerings/... The market is distorted and you pay more and get less if one monopoly takes all others for a ride.

Spotify doesn't pay that though.

Spotify is not paying 30% to apple, nor is it cheaper for Android users than for Apple users. So this is just margin for Spotify (and record labels), not cheaper products for users

Of all the narratives surrounding Apple's practices, "it leads to higher prices for consumers" is an outright lie, and I don't know why the EU is telling it. It applies to nothing. Reader apps (Kindle/Netflix/Spotify) don't use IAP so they currently pay nothing. In-game IAPs (where the vast majority of Apple's fees come from) would just pocket the difference, because customers are used to current prices and there's no price competition that could drive prices down (you can only buy Fortnite v-bucks from Epic Games, obviously). The App Store has exerted downward pressure on app prices compared to desktop apps, not upward pressure, since its inception.

The real benefit of these rulings is ease of competition (subscribing to Spotify as easily as to Apple Music, buying Kindle books as easily as iBooks, all great things). And more game companies dumping Apple IAP for their in-app gambling mechanics, overpriced cosmetic skins, and pay-to-win tokens, so they can make them non-refundable, screwing over parents. Some customers win and some lose, but prices won't change.

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