Elizabeth Warren accuses Apple of anti competitive practices

Article written by Blue Lava Tech

Apple is again the target of another politician, this time with accusations of anticompetitive behavior. She cited Apple, Amazon and Google but singled out Apple and mentioned them using their size to “snuff out the competition”.

These comments were during an event called “America’s Monopoly Problem.” She gave specific reasons for each company called out, but the general gist is that they are using their size to prevent smaller companies from competing.

Recode got the following response from Spotify when asked about Warren’s statements:

“Apple has long used its control of iOS to squash competition in music, driving up the prices of its competitors, inappropriately forbidding us from telling our customers about lower prices, and giving itself unfair advantages across its platform through everything from the lock screen to Siri. You know there’s something wrong when Apple makes more off a Spotify subscription than it does off an Apple Music subscription and doesn’t share any of that with the music industry. They want to have their cake and eat everyone else’s too.”

Her argument about Apple:

“Warren accused the company of placing conditions on competitors that make it harder for them to offer their own services, specifically referring to Apple Music. Apple has placed conditions on its rivals that make it difficult for them to offer competitive streaming services,”

One possible solution to this issue, although not under consideration is for Apple to remove or reduce its share of revenue from services in which it competes with others in the App store. This would solve a lot of problems for Apple and show competitors that it does not resort to such tactics for growth.