Streaming music firm Spotify Technology on Tuesday criticised rival Apple, saying that a new subscription bundle offer from the iPhone maker abuses its dominant market position by favouring its own Apple Music service.
Spotify said the Apple One bundle announced on Tuesday disadvantages streaming music rivals. Spotify and Apple charge US$10/month for their streaming music service, but the Apple One package bundles it with other services such as television or videogames that start at $15/month.
“We call on competition authorities to act urgently to restrict Apple’s anticompetitive behavior, which, if left unchecked, will cause irreparable harm to the developer community and threaten our collective freedoms to listen, learn, create and connect,” the music streaming company said.
In a statement, Apple said the bundle was aimed at existing users of its services and that “customers can discover and enjoy alternatives to every one of Apple’s services”. — Reported by Akanksha Rana and Stephen Nellis, (c) 2020 Reuters