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Legal
Simfy files complaint over Apple
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 8 June 2011
Digital music service Simfy, often referred to as Germany’s answer to Spotify (its Swedish competitor not being active in Germany, it having yet to impress the country’s collecting society GEMA), has filed a complaint with the German competition regulator about Apple, which Simfy says is abusing its market dominance to delay the expansion of the Simfy service to the iPad.
In the filing with the Bundeskartellamt, Simfy reportedly claims that it applied for its iPad app to be added to Apple’s App Store three months ago. Given it already have an Apple approved app for the iPhone, the company feels this new application should have gone through quickly.
The implication in Simfy’s filing is that Apple is deliberately delaying the German company’s attempt to offer its service across all devices, because doing so puts it in competition – in a way – with Apple’s new iCloud offering. The streaming service doesn’t actually say that explicitly – instead telling the regulator that the delay in its app application is the result of Apple pursuing “its own strategy”.
But Simfy clearly reckons there is no coincidence that the IT giant is delaying the launch of its ‘access your music on any device’ service at the exact same time it is launching its own ‘access your music on any device’ offer (albeit a locker service rather than a streaming platform).
Apple is yet to respond.
