Apple is taking hit after hit in its continued struggle against antitrust accusations, as only last week Arizona passed a bill forcing the App Store to allow third-party payment systems within apps to circumvent the 30% commission fee.
Reuters has revealed that EU antitrust regulators are currently finalizing a list of charges against Apple for violating antitrust laws. Apparently, Spotify, the Swedish music streaming service, had jumpstarted a set of four cases against Apple when it filed a report against the tech giant two years ago.
Spotify had initially complained to the European Commission that Apple was giving an unfair advantage to Apple Music by restricting alternative platforms to keep them in its shadow. This has since galvanized further complaints against Apple’s 30% commission fee imposed on all apps without allowing alternative payment systems or other app stores onto the iOS.
If Apple loses to these charges, it could spell the end of its App Store monopoly. In the US, Apple is waiting to go on trial in only two months to face Epic Games in a lawsuit for antitrust practices, which was launched last August. It looks like a freer mobile app publishing platform may loom on the horizon after all, which would be fortunate for smaller developers and businesses who have been impacted the most by this monopoly.
Reuters states that the document listing the charges is set to be delivered to Apple sometime before this summer.