Brussels has fined the technology giant for anti-competitive behaviour over streaming services. But that won’t slow it down. Matthew Partridge reports
Shares in Apple dipped to a four-month trough following the EU’s decision to fine the company nearly $2bn over antitrust violations, says Brian Bushard in Forbes. The fine, the first ever levied on Apple by Brussels, came after the European Commission ruled on Monday that Apple had “applied restrictions” on its rival app developers, hampering competition by prohibiting those companies from informing iPhone users of “alternative and cheaper” subscription services. The Commission claims that this “anticompetitive behaviour” went on for almost a decade. As a result, users paid over the odds for music streaming services thanks to Apple’s commission fee on in-app transactions.
The fine is almost four times higher than expected, but it still seems to be “more inconvenience than problem”, says Rebecca Christie on Breakingviews. Apple is expected to produce $100bn of net income in its next financial year. In any case, the amount could be cut following an appeal; Google’s penalties “have been tied up in court for years”. Even the recent changes to the way the App store operated, prompted by the lawsuit, seem to be “largely cosmetic”, and more designed to boost Spotify, a European firm, than helping people connect with smaller firms.
A drop in the ocean
The penalty is certainly “pocket change” when compared with Apple’s global sales, says Lex in the Financial. Still, it seems to have spooked investors, who clearly think that it “does not mean the end of Apple’s regulatory battle”. Antitrust authorities around the world, including the US, are starting to “put limits on tech company power”. In particular, they are clearly worried that Apple’s closed ecosystem, wh
