Spotify’s proposal is covered by the EU’s recently adopted Digital Markets Act, which Big Tech platforms including Apple, will be brought into compliance with from early 2024.Īpple’s disputed practices include charging high commission fees on each transaction developers make via Apple's app store and preventing rivals from informing customers of alternative subscription options. Apple has long argued that sideloading would destroy the security of the iPhone. One “perfectly fair” solution, Ek added, would be to sideload - offering users the opportunity to download the Spotify app on Apple’s operating system from places other than Apple's app store. I do not care as long as the consumer should have the right to opt into having other defaults' where services are set as the user's preferred option. “I don't even mind that they pre-install competitive services. “I get developers every single day that come to me and say, ‘look, this is grossly unfair, but for whatever reason, I'm afraid of speaking out for retaliation,’” Ek said. We want platforms to have interoperability with payment methods…and then lastly, we want a platform which allows transparent and fair use of' application programming interface or 'APIs across the board.” “We want a level playing field…in which companies are free to interact with its customers. “We are going to keep fighting for these not to be narrow,” he said.

Sideloading the solution?Įk warned that any order for Apple to change how it treats rival services needs to be meaningful. Vestager may be feeling the pressure to take time to get the case right so it survives a court challenge and responds to smaller rivals' criticism that antitrust orders don't always go far enough to help them. You want things to happen - preferably yesterday,” he said. “These three years of being an entrepreneur, you’re impatient.

The investigation is now one of the European Commission's most advanced Big Tech antitrust probes, getting a statement of objections last year.

Spotify ceo interview