Spotify is engaged on an replace that might permit iPhone customers within the US to buy audiobooks by exterior hyperlinks. In a submit on Friday, Spotify says it has submitted the replace to Apple, and if accepted, it will additionally let Premium customers purchase “top-ups” for extra audiobook listening time.
The change is available in response to final week’s order issued by Epic Games v. Apple Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who discovered Apple was in “willful violation” of a 2021 injunction. The choose ordered Apple to cease taking an as much as 27 p.c fee on purchases made by exterior hyperlinks, and likewise blocked the corporate from proscribing how builders direct customers towards purchases outdoors the App Store.
Adding hyperlinks and pricing information for audiobooks could be a serious change to the app. Spotify beforehand tried to get round Apple’s restrictions by not displaying the worth of audiobooks within the app, and as an alternative emailing customers a hyperlink to buy the audiobook they need on the net. Spotify finally pulled audiobook purchases from iOS altogether.
“It helps stage the taking part in subject by permitting builders to supply primary pricing data and easy-to-access hyperlinks to buy digital items by iPhones with no pointless steps or extra taxes levied by Apple,” Spotify says within the submit. “In quick, this freedom is a win for authors, audiences, and builders all over the place — if Apple approves and if the authorized ruling stands regardless of Apple’s continued makes an attempt to cease it.”
