The European Commission announced Tuesday the opening of several investigations against the American giant Apple that it suspects anti-competitive practices in various fields. Apple has already been fined 1.1 billion euros in France in March.
Spotify accuses Apple of abuse of dominance
The first investigation follows a complaint from the Swedish Spotify, which accuses Apple of abusing its dominant position in the online music market. Brussels also mentions the complaint of a distributor of electronic books / audio books, dissatisfied with the rules of the applications of the App Store. The European executive does not name this company, which, according to the British daily Financial Times, is Kobo, a subsidiary of Japanese Rakuten's electronic books.
The second concerns the behavior of the American giant with its Apple Pay payment service.
"Unfounded Complaints"
The American giant immediately reacted in a statement: "It is disappointing that the European Commission puts forward unfounded complaints from a handful of companies who simply want to take advantage of the situation without paying or playing according to the same rules as the rest of the world".
"We do not think it is fair - we want to maintain a level playing field where anyone determined and with a promising idea can thrive," he added. The Californian electronics and technology giant is not in its first dispute with the European Commission. In the summer of 2016, he was forced by the European executive to reimburse Ireland 13 billion euros in tax benefits deemed undue. He challenged this decision before the European Court of Justice, which has not yet decided.