European Commission investigates Apple's potential anti-trust violation
What happened
Two years ago, the music streaming service Spotify filed a complaint against Apples App Store, which set off the European Union to investigate in their claims. Spotify claimed that the tax, on the App Store of 30% on subscription services, is too high and allows Apple services, like Apple Music, to charge less than their competitors, which they cannot afford. This creates an unfair advantage for Apple services, as they can market to a broader audience due to the lower price, and if competitors are not willing to pay the tax, they do not have access to millions of potential customers on the App Store. The EU now launched an antitrust case against Apple.
What PR did
The European Commission in Brussels published a press release concerning the situation. In the statement they underline how the Commission feels that Apple is deliberately putting their competition in a disadvantaged state with their App Store policies. Under the points of interest, the following are stated: First, Apple keeps a dominant position in the music streaming market due to the App Store. Second, Apple's own in-app purchase is imposed on other music streaming services. Third, the App Store does not inform the costumer of cheaper purchasing alternatives. If these concerns from the Commission are confirmed, Apple would infringe of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) which "prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position."
Analysis
This case is important to PR, because it is an interest to the public, whether Apple can defend themselves and whether changes to the App Store will be made for a fairer market. It is also interesting to note, that this acts as a sort of testing ground whether the EU can force one of the most powerful companies to change its policies. The above-mentioned statement's primarily public are Apple consumer, who are interest to follow the change to potentially pay less for their music subscription. Another public would be EU citizens, who would want to be informed what their combined governments do. The message behind the PR is that the EU is willing to pursue big, powerful companies in order to create a fairer market. Another message could be, that the EU will defend antitrust laws, when they feel that those have been violated.
