For months, Spotify has been trying to update its iPhone app that would let you go directly from the app to the Spotify website to buy a subscription, so that it could avoid the App Store fees when subscribing in-app. Now it’s had to restrict its enthusiasm, instead logging an update that will have “basic pricing and website information”, what it calls “the bare minimum outlined under the European Commission’s ruling.”
When Apple was fined an inordinate amount of money and told to allow links to websites by the EU, Spotify likely thought it was out of the woods. Apple, however, had other ideas — you could have links to the outside web, but you’d have to pay Apple for the privilege. Spotify, which claims to “remain committed to giving consumers real choice in our app,” has had an ordeal getting its updates that are supposed to go with the EU’s ruling okayed by Apple — and now it's had to downgrade its contents.
