The war between Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), si Spotify is intensifying today, the second company recommending to customers not to buy subscriptions for its premium service through the dedicated iOS application, but directly through its website.
Those from Spotify intend to send an email to their customers to notify them about the fact that they can save no less than 3 dollars if they choose to buy a subscription through their website instead of the App Store, the amount representing a quarter of subscription price available through the App Store.
More precisely, at the moment Spotify users pay $13 to buy the subscription using an Apple ID and only $10 to buy the same subscription directly through Spotify's website, the difference being $3 between the two prices charged.
Given that Apple charges a 30% commission for all sales made through the App Store, including subscriptions, Spotify is now attacking them by convincing customers to save money by avoiding Apple.
Spotify can't afford to pay Apple's commission on subscriptions, so it decided to raise the price in the case of sales made through the App Store, but now it recommends customers to avoid Apple because they pay a more expensive subscription than the rest of the world.
Given that Apple Music was launched last Tuesday and is a direct competitor of Spotify, the move of the American company is clear to reduce Apple's receipts, at least for its service, but the decision to recommend customers to avoid Apple will seriously affect them.
More precisely, Apple will most likely withdraw the Spotify application from the App Store for this advertisement, and users will be left without the possibility to update the application because Spotify will no longer have a store to publish it for download.
Spotify's move reveals the fact that Apple Music has caused it problems in terms of attracting new users or maintaining old ones, but this initiative will certainly not help it that much.
