Apple could be ordered to pay millions of euros to French iPhone users who subscribe to Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music and other streaming services (other than Apple Music). The association CLCV (Consumption, Housing and Living Environment) has launched a call for witnesses from all those who have subscribed to these services from their iPhone or iPad between 2015 and 2024.
Millions of euros at stake
The consumer protection association is relying on the European Commission's decision a year ago, which fined Apple €1.8 billion for abuse of a dominant position in the music streaming sector. Apple has obviously appealed the judgment, which nevertheless gives the associations something to attack Apple at the national level.
As the media outlet L'Informé points out, several class actions are being organized in Belgium, Spain and Italy against Apple in this case. What is being criticized The Apple company will seem familiar: the commission imposed by the App Store on subscriptions — from 15 to 30% depending on the length of the subscriber — forces streaming services to charge iPhone and iPad users more.
At the same time, these same services are prohibited from communicating their offers and promotions directly to users of their applications. For consumers, this is a real “prejudice”, as the CLCV claims, which could weigh heavily: 259 million euros in Europe, including 25 million euros in Spain or Italy, according to the Euroconsumers group.
However, it is not tomorrow that Apple will send a check to French Spotify subscribers who own an iPhone! If the procedure passes the appeal stage witnesses, it will take years to come to fruition, with the parallel instruction of the appeal at European level.
It should be remembered here that most streaming services have stopped selling their subscriptions in their iOS apps, precisely because of this commission problem which increases their prices. Spotify has barely managed to obtain the possibility to communicate about its offers in its application, but it remains extremely complicated.
Source: L'Informé
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