Streamer Deezer cheers Apple antitrust wonderful, however calls tech big’s DMA response ‘misleading’

Streaming music service Deezer is becoming a member of Spotify in cheering the European Union’s €1.84 billion fine imposed on Apple for breaking antitrust guidelines within the streaming music market. Nevertheless, the corporate urges the EU Fee to evaluate Apple’s response to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which it says is “deceptive” and “an attempt to bypass European regulations.”

In a statement issued today, Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira solely cautiously praised the incoming wonderful, noting “It’s very positive to see that the EU is taking action against Apple and is showing readiness to firmly sanction anti-competitive practices.”

Nevertheless, the streaming music exec additionally pushed the EU Fee to re-examine Apple’s DMA terms in gentle of this new wonderful to make it clear that what Apple has proposed will not be sufficient to adjust to the brand new regulation.

Apple’s new DMA rules, launched in January, are an advanced technique of offering a path ahead for app builders to distribute apps from different app marketplaces. Together with the adjustments to Apple’s guidelines and fee construction, the corporate launched new enterprise phrases for any builders who select to step outdoors Apple’s personal App Retailer. If builders choose into the DMA phrases, they should pay a brand new “Core Technology Fee” which expenses them €0.50 for every first annual app set up per 12 months over a 1 million threshold. As an alternative of leveling the taking part in area for builders, because the DMA meant, this payment ensures Apple can nonetheless faucet into the revenues of bigger companies that function outdoors its App Retailer.

Deezer is amongst these builders who drafted an open letter to the EC last week, claiming Apple was making a “mockery” of the DMA. Different signers embody Epic Video games, 37Signals, Proton, Spotify, and others, who collectively urged the EC to take “swift, timely, and decisive action against Apple,” to guard builders.

Deezer reiterates its complaints in an organization weblog put up which was up to date to touch upon the brand new wonderful, saying that Apple’s DMA guidelines are an “attempt to circumvent the new regulation with an alternative to the current business term.” It factors out that though Apple diminished its fee, it launched a brand new payment — the Core Know-how Payment — which is “excessive” and “makes it prohibitively expensive to scale any app business profitably.”

Deezer stated it noticed no profit in switching to Apple’s DMA guidelines, in consequence.

Few builders have publicly stated they might change to Apple’s new phrases.

To date, we’ve solely heard from MacPaw, the maker of a subscription service for apps, Setapp, which introduced it was switching to Apple’s DMA phrases final week. As we speak, Germany-based mobivention, stated it would also introduce an alternative app marketplace for B2B and B2C iOS apps. Nevertheless, bigger builders, like Apple critics Spotify and Epic Video games, in addition to tech firms like Meta, Mozilla, and Microsoft have criticized Apple’s new guidelines.