Rakuten also raises his voice to Brussels over Apple's business model, a complaint that joins Spotify's claim for the business model of the American company, which provides a common platform in its digital store but while competing in it with own products.

As the Financial Times has reported , the Japanese company has filed a complaint with the European Commission for anti-competitive behavior; the claim has been made through Kobo, a Rakuten affiliate dedicated to the marketing of electronic books. In this company they do not consider it fair that the technology led by Tim Cook charge a 30% commission to digital publishers that sell e-books in the App Store at the same time that Apple Books promotes theirs.

According to Kobo, these circumstances force him to lead consumers to his own website and consequently suffer a reduction in sales, all this to avoid the percentages required for the use of the Apple store.

Apple, "referee and player"

In short, the Palo Alto company has a platform open to competition, but houses its own products that could be privileged, an extreme on which the Competition area of ​​the European Commission will have to rule. These accusations against Apple for considering it judge and part of the same business occur in the same line as those of Spotify's pioneering case. "You cannot be a referee and a player," summed up the Swedish company's general attorney, Horacio Gutiérrez, in a call in which EL MUNDO participated.

The music streaming company argues that Apple's iOS operating system prevents competing apps from "competing on an equal footing and on their own merits, not based on who owns the App Store," meaning, Apple itself, and also Spotify requested that consumers can "have the freedom to choose the payment method", instead of being channeled by Apple Pay.

"This is not a Spotify versus Apple problem," said Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify. Indeed, Rakuten has already joined the complaints against the most valued company in the world and one of the global leaders in the sale of mobile phones, after others, such as Tile, have positioned themselves similarly.

That global role is one of Apple's arguments for charging a commission, as it opens up a huge market for other companies . The companies present in the App Store can pass that percentage on to the customer (thus making their products more expensive compared to those of Apple's competition) or assume them (and lower their margins with each sale or download).

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