Apple is blocking a new Spotify update on the App Store

According to a report from Recode, Apple are blocking an update to the Spotify app on iOS.

Apple has a problem with Spotify trying “to use the app to acquire new customers and sell subscriptions” without using In-App Purchases.

By using In-App Purchases Spotify would need to send a 30 percent cut to Apple from every subscription. Instead Spotify recently removed In-App Purchases altogether while encouraging users to subscribe through Spotify.com with $US$0.99 promotion for a 3 month subscription.

In response Apple, according to Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez, threatened to remove the app from the App Store entirely, and they are now blocking an update to the app.

In a letter sent from Gutierrez to Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell, Spotify claims:

“This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U.S. and EU competition law. It continues a troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music, particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple’s previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify … we cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors.”