the European Commission sanctions Apple for non-compliance with competition rules

The American giant, Apple, has decided to appeal. He was sentenced on Monday March 4 to a fine of 1.84 billion euros. This fine follows an action taken before the European Commission by the online music streaming platform Spotify, the Swedish competitor. Spotify had appealed to Brussels against the practices of the Californian giant, explaining that its methods did not guarantee freedom of choice for consumers, nor a fair environment for application developers. The investigation began in 2020, the European Commission today ruled in favor of the complainant Spotify.

The European executive established that, for around ten years, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of streaming music applications, via its App Store. Evidence has been provided that the American group applied restrictions to prevent application developers from offering customers on iPhone and iPad alternative and cheaper offers, with the Apple brand thus favoring its own AppleMusic service.

A warning to all other operators

Considering the profits made by the group, the fine remains limited. In the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, Apple earned a net profit of $34 billion (the equivalent of just over 31 billion euros). This sum of 1.8 billion euros fine is an amount considered by European authorities to be sufficiently dissuasive to prevent Apple from repeating the offense.

And above all it is a message sent to all the digital giants – Apple, but also Google, Microsoft and Meta, formerly Facebook – who will have to comply with new rules through the DMA (the Digital Market Act). New, even stricter European rules which will apply from Thursday March 7 for all digital manufacturers who want to trade on the Old Continent. The DMA precisely provides for the possibility for users to download applications on iPhones outside of the App Store… an opening in the monopoly that Apple has skillfully maintained until now.