As I said in a comment far below here, it's a funny thing, how to define anticompetitive and monopoly practices, depending on how you frame the scope of the market. See Peter Thiel's book for a chapter on this.
You could say that Apple has a monopoly over developers building apps and providing their services to people using iPhones. Someone else looking at it could say that Spotify has a multitude of ways to provide its content to customers -- web, it's own Windows + Mac desktop apps, Android, etc.
Which way is a regulator supposed to look at it?
The point about Apple Music is also interesting. Actually Apple Music (the streaming version) I believe came after Spotify. Anticompetitive regulations are about penalizing behavior that discourages new entrants to the market. Apple Music was actually the newer entrant in that case.
Market share argument:
Android has 71% market share in the EU, as of February 2019 - compared to iOS's 21%. [1]
Ease of customer switching argument:
If Apple pressed too much in a way that harmed consumers, there are many other cheaper alternative Android phones vs. iOS to which they can easily port their number over (say what you want about ISPs and Telecoms, I find this to be pretty easy in the US - unless you signed an unreasonably stifling contract. Admittedly I'm unsure how difficult this would be in most of the EU.)
Supply-Side Price elasticity argument:
In theory, if the 30% cut was too high, developers wouldn't want to develop on the iOS platform, and would instead focus resources on developing on Android; the specific cut would be at an equilibrium point that enough developers would find profitable, and would still provide choice in the app marketplace for customers.
If iOS had 100% share, you probably wouldn't say it doesn't have a monopoly on apps because you can just use desktop apps instead.
I also wouldn't say Comcast doesn't have a monopoly because they only have xx% share and you can move to a different state or country and get another provider. Or use your phone for internet instead.
> Ease of customer switching argument
This is confusing the consumer market for smartphones and the markets for distribution of smartphone app.
> Supply-Side Price elasticity argument
Yeah, if any monopoly's cut is too high, you can exit the market. This is not an argument that the monopoly is not a monopoly. This only means there is a limit to the monopoly's power.
It's bunkum and doesn't fit with 100 years of antitrust law.
However, he can buy an aftermarket part. It's a different product but the same market. So they don't have a monopoly.
I don't know much about antitrust law so I can't comment on that But I do understand basic economics. And from an economic perspective, Apple most definitely created a monopoly which they most definitely use for rent seeking.
An android phone is just as portable and has all of the same features as an Apple phone. The only day to day difference is having access to the apple ecosystem.
It’s nothing but a minor inconvenience to switch between android and iOS. The same can’t be said for any of your other comparisons.
Switching includes spending hundreds of dollars plus hours to setup and figure things out plus several days of frustrating adjustments.
You might call that a "minor inconvenience". It certainly is more minor than my examples above. But that absolutely is enough to separate the two app markets. Virtually nobody will switch systems for an app.
I think it's worth pointing out that Spotify is a Swedish company, where iOS has a 58% market share, according to the site you linked. It could be that Spotify's main markets are ones where iOS has a more significant share.
"In theory, if the 30% cut was too high, developers wouldn't want to develop on the iOS platform"
The problem is not just that Apple is taking a 30% cut; it's that it's also running a competing service. Spotify are arguing that Apple are unfairly using their supposed dominance in one market (phones) to achieve dominance in another market (streaming music).
I still find it true that a lot of the early iOS users still have their premium subscription. And I wouldn't be surprised if iOS is dominant in the premium users of Spotify today.
I found the response by Apple good and I think they've helped Spotify grow a lot. Suing Apple feels a bit like they are shooting themselves in the foot.
Well no, Apple's even admit that Spotify didn't get their subscriptions through them: "only a tiny fraction of their subscriptions fall under Apple’s revenue-sharing model"
A bit of apples to oranges comparison, but Internet Explorer was also the newer entrant in a previous case.
What? No, they're not just about protecting new entrants, and if you think about it for five seconds it should be obvious why. Microsoft lost it's 1998 antitrust case, despite Internet Explorer being released after Netscape.
I honestly cannot see the legal footing in this whole thing to claim that Apple has any sort of obligation to be "fair" here.
Or even just any legal depth. It's all just PR fluff speak.
Personally, I use Amazon Music because I get it as part of Amazon Prime. It has most of the music I want to listen to, but not all. I was considering Spotify, but with nonsense like this, this is one potential customer that they have lost.
I don't think you can say that the App Store is itself a relevant market. Especially when you consider that Spotify's exact same services are offered across many other platforms. When you can interchange Android Spotify and iOS Spotify and receive the exact same product and services from Spotify, then how can you frame Apple as a dominant undertaking?
Is Porsche more dominant than Toyota?
Like Microsoft bundling/treating IE differently to any other browser on its platform.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2018/03/02/apple-con...
Competition laws place limitations on what a business can do. They're not free to sell or price entirely as they please.
In this case Spotify are arguing that Apple is using its dominance of the smartphone market to give an unfair advantage to its own music store. Whether or not this is true is up to the courts to decide, but it's not a frivilous case; there's a real risk to Apple that they lose.