On Thursday, Spotify made major accusations against Apple of playing unfair to its music service. The Swedish-based music company said that Apple didn’t approve a new version of Spotify’s iOS app because “it didn’t want competition for Apple Music.” The Cupertino-based company has responded to the accusations. In a letter sent to Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez on Friday, Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell rebutted the streaming music service’s allegations, adding “we find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers and are publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service,” Sewell wrote. BuzzFeed News reports:”Our guidelines apply equally to all app developers, whether they are game developers, e-book sellers, video-streaming services or digital music distributors; and regardless of whether or not they compete against Apple. We did not alter our behavior or our rules when we introduced our own music streaming service or when Spotify became a competitor,” Sewell explains. “Ironically, it is now Spotify that wants things to be different by asking for preferential treatment from Apple.”
And as for Spotify’s suggestion that Apple is treading on dangerous, anticompetitive ground, well, Sewell doesn’t seem too concerned. “There is nothing in Apple’s conduct that ‘amounts to a violation of applicable antitrust laws.’ Far from it,” Sewell, writes after wryly observing that not only has Apple’s platform generated “hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental revenue to Spotifyâ but that the Spotify App currently in the App Store is still in violation of Apple’s guidelines. “I would be happy to facilitate an expeditious review and approval of your app as soon as you provide us with something that is compliant with the App Store’s rules,” he quips.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Apple Slams Spotify For Asking For ‘Preferential Treatment’