European regulators are reportedly set to slap Apple Inc. with a fantastic of greater than $500 million, saying the tech large unfairly hindered its music-streaming rivals.
The Financial Times and Bloomberg News reported Sunday that European Commission antitrust regulators are making ready to impose a roughly $500 million euro ($539 million) fantastic in opposition to Apple
AAPL,
after discovering that it created an anticompetitive surroundings by failing to tell iPhone customers that cheaper, different music-streaming apps have been obtainable exterior its App Store.
The investigation was sparked by a criticism that Spotify SA
SPOT,
filed in 2019. While EU regulators have beforehand imposed massive antitrust fines in opposition to Big Tech corporations corresponding to Google’s Alphabet
GOOGL,
GOOG,
and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
it has by no means imposed an antitrust fantastic in opposition to Apple.
The FT reported the fantastic is predicted to be introduced in early March.
Apple didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however up to now has mentioned “The App Store has helped Spotify become the top music streaming service across Europe and we hope the European Commission will end its pursuit of a complaint that has no merit.”
Meanwhile, the FT and Bloomberg additionally reported that the European Commission is near accepting a settlement from Apple in a separate antitrust case, over its Apple Pay system.
Source web site: www.marketwatch.com
