Apple Reprimanded for Illegally Taking a Cut of Third-Party Payments
Bad Law
Apple may have violated a law, but any law that prohibits a company from charging fees to reimburse itself for services provided is unjust. Apple, Samsung, Motorola, etc. are under no obligation to make cellphones or sell their services to anyone. If you don't like their business practices, fees, etc., then don't buy their products.
Laws should exist to protect consumer safety and ensure honest dealings, not to mandate what prices companies can charge or how much they pay employees.
Laws should exist to protect consumer safety and ensure honest dealings, not to mandate what prices companies can charge or how much they pay employees.
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I think the issue is that the fees don't really align with the services being provided. It costs money for Apple to run its App Store, but how does that entitle Apple to 30% of a monthly subscription to Spotify? Wouldn't a one-time fee when they download the app make more sense? Making it 30% of everything really seems like they're not just charging a high price, but taking advantage of their market position, which is by definition monopolistic behavior.
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I think that's between Spotify and Apple, not the government. Yes, they violated the law, but I say it's a bad law. Do you know that there are legal monopolies? They're run by the government. A local government will outlaw gambling, but then they encourage their citizens to buy lottery tickets. I say give companies like Apple the same rights to charge what they want, and let the marketplace drive companies like Spotify elsewhere.
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