Apple is trying to prove that it has no monopoly. Highlights the success of competitors on the App Store

Apple has released a report by Analysis Group that seeks to demonstrate that the App Store offers the chance for diversity in its ecosystem. Basically, Apple is trying to show that while it offers services that compete with other companies on the App Store, such as Apple TV + or Apple Music, they manage to attract more users internationally. Practically, Apple is trying to prove that it does not have a “monopoly”, although many of the companies it mentions have accused the company of such practices in the past.

Apple’s music, movie, and map services aren’t very popular

Apple focuses on three application categories and four regions in the presentation on its website. These include music streaming, browsing services, and movie streaming services. Apple is thus trying to prove that Netflix, Amazon Prime video, Spotify or Google Maps are much more popular services than Apple currently offers.

According to Analysis Group, in terms of music streaming, Apple is not the leader in any of the regions, or even in second place. Spotify has 1.6 times more users in the US and France than Apple Music, while Melon in South Korea has 6 times more users. Other great services like Apple Music are Pandora, Deezer, Line Music or Genie.

In terms of maps, the US, France and Japan use Google Maps predominantly, with 1.5x to 4.7x more users than Apple Maps. South Korea is once again an unusual market, with NAVER Map being the most popular there with 7.7x more users than Apple Maps, followed by KakaoMap. Waze and Yahoo Maps are mentioned in other regions.

Finally, we have movie streaming services, where Apple TV + is far outdated. In the US, Netflix has 17 times more users, and 3.2 times more. In France, Netflix has 35x more users, with Prime Video from Amazon in 2nd place with 5 times more popular services. In Japan, however, Apple TV + does not seem to be successful. There, Amazon leads 407 times more popular services, while Netflix has 256 times more users than Apple.

The EU and other state agencies are still investigating the company’s practices

Apple also said that the report also shows that Apple does not have a presence in certain market segments, such as social media, dating, travel or food orders, but also that its applications are generally less popular than those of developers on App Store, including pre-installed ones.

However, this type of report does not seem to impress the authorities, who are still investigating the company’s monopolar practices. In the EU in particular, the authorities want to force the company to open up more software, allowing more competition on its platforms, including payments. The EU also wants to force Apple to switch to USB-C plugs for smartphones, but also to ensure the compatibility of its services with other platforms.

source: Apple Newsroom