Spotify and other eight companies / associations jointly sent a letter to the European Union: accusing Apple of anti-competitive and monopolistic behavior and demanding stronger regulation

CTOnews.com, January 21 (Xinhua)-- led by music streaming company Spotify, eight companies / associations recently signed a letter to the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, saying that Apple is a harmful, anti-competitive and monopoly company that must be regulated through "urgent action."

CTOnews.com has a list of 8 companies / associations:

Basecamp

Deezer

Proton

Schibsted

Spotify

European Publishers Council (EPC)

France Digitale

News Media Europe

The chief executives and heads of the eight companies / associations jointly sent an open letter to Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the European Commission. In the letter, these companies / associations asked the European Union to take immediate regulatory measures to intervene in the Spotify's follow-up investigation into Apple's app distribution strategy.

The eight companies / associations said Apple's App Store app distribution strategy had affected its business and accused App Store of "capricious changes in terms and conditions" that had made it difficult for it to develop.

In the letter, he wrote:

Apple has imposed unfair restrictions on our business over the years. These restrictions hinder our development and hurt European consumers.

These restrictions include bundling App Store with Apple's proprietary payment system and charging exorbitant commissions to application developers; creating artificial barriers that prevent our businesses from communicating freely with our customers; restricting developers from accessing their users' data; and capricious changes in terms and conditions.

Apple benefits from its monopoly on its mobile ecosystem and squeezes high rents from app developers, who have no choice but to stay on App Store to reach European consumers.