On Friday, Spotify has accused the iPhone maker of rejecting its updated iOS from the App Store for anti-competitive reasons.
According to Spotify's general counsel Horacio Gutierrez – a former Microsoft lawyer – Apple's refusal to approve the update "continues a troubling pattern of behaviour by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music.
The accusations come just a few weeks since Spotify opted to remove its option to let people subscribe to its paid service using Apple's payments system.
Today, Apple responded to the accusations, in a letter published on Buzzfeed, via Apple's general council Bruce Sewell: “We find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers and are publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service,” Sewell wrote. “Our guidelines apply equally to all app developers, whether they are game developers, e-book sellers, video-streaming services or digital music distributors; and regardless of whether or not they compete against Apple.”
In response, Spotify's spokesman Jonathan Prince took to Twitter:
This is what @Apple wants you to believe violates their rules. No offer, no purchase, no link to anywhere at all. pic.twitter.com/WzLDvWw2In
— jonathan prince (@jonathanmprince) July 1, 2016
Expect this one to go on and on for a while yet.
