Following Spotify's complaint to the European Commission that Apple is engaging in "anti-competitive behavior", Apple has issued its response.

One of Spotify's main complaints was Apple's 30 percent charge on in-app purchases, and Apple countered by saying that that cut only applies to the first year of an annual subscription like Spotify Premium and then drops to 15 percent in the years after. Apple also argued that most Spotify customers use the free, ad-supported streaming, which isn't charged by Apple, and that a "tiny fraction" of Spotify subscriptions are subject to Apple's revenue sharing model. "Spotify is asking for that number to be zero," Apple said.

Apple also responded to Spotify's complaints about Apple blocking access to the Spotify app and to its updates. Apple said that it's approved nearly 200 Spotify app updates and that the only time it's asked for changes to be made was when Spotify "tried to sidestep the same rules that every other app follows."

The Cupertino company claimed that when it asked Spotify about Siri and AirPlay 2 support, Spotify said it's working on it, and Apple said it's ready to help when needed. Apple added that it reviewed and approved Spotify's Apple Watch app in September 2018 with the same process and speed as it would use with any other app. Now the Spotify Apple Watch app is number one in the Watch Music category.

Now that Spotify has filed its complaint with the European Commission and Apple has issued its response, it'll be interesting to see how the situation plays out. Until then, you can read Apple's full response to Spotify at the source link below.