Spotify will offer pricing options outside of its iOS app in the EU – if Apple allows it

Spotify will not launch the in-app purchases it previously planned for the EU, at least for now. Instead, if Apple approves a newly submitted update, it will try to do the next best thing: provide pricing information within the app and link users to its subscription options.

Spotify says the edge It plans to make this change in response to the European Commission's ruling on Monday, which fined Apple 1.84 billion euros (about $2 billion) for “abusing its dominant position” in the distribution of music streaming apps. The European Commission found that Apple's anti-directive rules prevent developers from telling users about “alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside the app.”

Margrethe Vestager, Head of Competition at the European Commission He said during a press conference The practice was “unlawful” and Apple was ordered to remove its anti-routing provisions for music streaming apps. She said Apple “will have to allow music streaming developers to communicate freely with their users,” allowing them to provide pricing information to users in apps. Apple said it would appeal The decision accused Spotify of wanting to “rewrite the rules of the App Store.”

Spotify takes full advantage of this provision. If Apple approves the change, Spotify will be able to provide iOS users in the EU with information about the prices of its premium subscriptions as well as the various features it offers. It will also include links that direct users to its website to purchase the subscriptions they want. You can see what this would look like in the embedded image above.

Earlier this year, Spotify announced plans to start allowing in-app purchases on its iOS app in the European Union, but decided not to immediately follow through after Apple revealed its plans to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act, or DMA. (The deadline to comply with the DMA expires later this week.) Part of Apple's plan includes a new set of business terms that allow developers to place their apps in alternative app stores and pay Apple a lower commission — but only if the apps pay 50 euro cents per… Annual app installation after 1 million downloads. These fees can add up to larger freemium apps like Spotify.

Apple will begin allowing reader apps, including Spotify, Netflix, and Kindle, to include links to their websites in apps in 2022. However, Apple still exercises control over which language reader apps can use when directing users to their link, which It prevents them from telling users how. Lots of subscription costs.

Spotify has already sent Apple its plans to offer pricing information within its app. It is up to Apple to accept or reject the proposal, and this time the European Commission will be there to scrutinize the decision.