Apple Inc. is facing an attack from Margrethe Vestager, amid concerns that the services of the App Store and Apple Pay «press» developers and potential rivals.
Just four years after the blow to Apple regarding taxes, Vestager turned her attention to the company's power.
The European Union will examine whether Apple's App Store violates competition law, requiring developers to accept a 30% commission for every sale on Apple's platform. It will also examine how Apple limits the «tap-and-go» functionality in its own Apple Pay product.
“It appears that Apple has taken on the role” guardian” regarding the distribution of apps and content to users of Apple's popular devices”, said Vestager on Tuesday. «We must ensure that Apple's rules do not distort competition in markets where the company competes with other app developers.»
The investigation is the latest in a growing list of European Union investigations into Silicon Valley that have led Donald Trump to sharply criticize the European Union. The European Union last year concluded nearly a decade of investigations into Google, collecting fines totaling $9 billion. An investigation into Amazon.com is set to escalate in the coming weeks.
“It is disappointing that the European Commission is promoting unfounded complaints from a small number of companies,” Apple said. “At the end of the day, our goal is simple: for our customers to have access to the best app or service of their choice, in a safe environment.”
Apple is already fighting Vestager 's demand to repay €13 billion in unpaid taxes to Ireland . Tim Cook called Vestager's decision a "political mistake" in the ongoing battle over how giant digital companies should be taxed in Europe.
The latest European Union audit targets the company's strategy, which has gradually focused its interest on subscription services such as Apple TV and Apple Music and not on the hardware it used to be.
For the fiscal year 2019 that ended on September 28, 2019, revenue from Apple's services increased by 16% to $46.3 billion, but nevertheless was negligible compared to total sales that reached $260.2 billion.
Apple says it enjoys serving competition through its store. It also notes that developers worldwide have earned more than $120 billion from the sale of digital goods and services in apps distributed through the Apple Store.
Spotify Technology SA last year complained that Apple was constantly changing the rules surrounding the streaming service, constantly increasing the percentages it receives from sales.
Such behavior gives an unfair advantage to the Apple Music service, the company said.
Spotify called on the EU «to act urgently to ensure fair competition on the iOS platform», it appears the top lawyer of Spotify, Horacio Gutierrez, said.
