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 Democratic Senator Al Franken in a letter on Wednesday said
that he was concerned that some Apple practices could limit
choices and raise prices for consumers. The letter was sent to
Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Federal Trade Commission
Chairwoman Edith Ramirez.
The FTC is already looking into complaints about Apple's rules
governing app developers but has not opened a formal
investigation.
The FTC confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.
The complaints focus on the fact that Apple plays two roles in
music streaming. First, it provides the App Store platform for
competing streaming services including Jango, Spotify, Rhapsody
and others, while taking a 30 percent cut of all in-app
purchases for digital goods. Secondly, it has its own streaming
service.
Franken, who is from Minnesota, noted a complaint often made by
streaming companies: that they are barred from putting in their
app advertisement that customers can pay less if they download
the app from a website instead of the Apple platform. They are
also barred from advertising discounts.
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"These types of restrictions seem to offer no competitive benefit
and may actually undermine the competitive process, to the detriment
of consumers, who may end up paying substantially more than the
current market price point," Franken wrote in his letter.
In the past, Apple has declined to comment to Reuters and other news
organizations on the issue and did not immediately respond to
requests on Wednesday.
In a separate letter also sent on Wednesday, the nonprofit Consumer
Watchdog accused Apple of pressing the three big music labels to
give Apple exclusive rights to artists in an effort to eradicate
free ad-supported music services.
"The FTC and Justice Department can ensure that Apple does not
dominate the market and eliminate the free music sector by
prohibiting it from entering into agreements with clauses that will
give it market dominance," the group said in their letter.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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