Apple hit with €1.84bn fine in EU antitrust ruling

Tech giant Apple has been slapped with a €1.84bn fine by European Union antitrust regulators over its App Store rules, with the watchdog telling the company that it cannot stop music streaming services from advertising cheaper subscription deals outside of its store.

The EU Commission said on Monday that its investigation had found that Apple bans music streaming app developers from fully informing iOS users about "alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app", and noted that it also blacks app providers from sharing instructions on how to subscribe to said offers.

"For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps through the App Store,” said the EU Commisson's Margrethe Vestager. "They did so by restricting developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules, so today we have fined Apple over €1.8bn."

The Commission said it had considered both the "duration and gravity of the infringement" when deciding upon the fine, as well as Apple's total turnover and market capitalisation, while also taking into account "incorrect information" submitted by the company during the procedure.

In response, Apple said the Commission had failed to "uncover any credible evidence" of either consumer harm or anti-competitive behaviour, stating that competitor's such as Spotify wanted to "rewrite the rules of the App Store" to gain competitive advantage, while paying nothing to Apple. Apple vowed to appeal the Commission's decision.

As of 1540 GMT, Apple shares were down 2.94% at $174.38 each.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com