Spotify lodges major complaint against Apple accusing firm of abusing its iPhone dominance

'We aren't seeking special treatment,' boss Daniel Ek says

General atmosphere view at Spotify presents An Intimate Evening With Shane McAnally at the Rosewall on November 2, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee (Jason Davis/Getty Images)

Spotify has lodged a complaint against Apple, arguing that it is using its dominance over the iPhone to give itself an unfair advantage.

The complaint to the European Commission (EC) was launched with a blog post and entire separate website created by Spotify to detail its various problems with Apple.

It says that Apple is intentionally stopping Spotify from integrating certain features in order to keep its advantage. And that is making the service worse to use for the people who subscribe, Spotify said.

The music streaming service's founder and chief executive Daniel Ek accused Apple of introducing rules to the Apple Store that "purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience".

Apple takes a 30% cut of purchases made through its payment system, including upgrades from Spotify's free to premium service, which Spotify claims is unfair given that Apple has its own streaming service, Apple Music.

The tax does not apply if people subscribe through a non-Apple device, such as on a desktop, and then use the service afterwards on an Apple device.

Spotify also claimed it had been limited from using various technologies – such as making an Apple Watch and letting people listen to podcasts – by Apple's rules.

Mr Ek said Spotify has resorted to sending a complaint to the regulatory body responsible for keeping competition fair in the EU, after trying to resolve the issue with Apple directly.

"We aren't seeking special treatment," he said in a blog post.

"We simply want the same treatment as numerous other apps on the App Store, like Uber or Deliveroo, who aren't subject to the Apple tax and therefore don't have the same restrictions."

Technical and experience-limiting restrictions are imposed on Spotify that makes it difficult to communicate with customers if they choose not to use Apple's payment system, Mr Ek added.

Apple has been approached for comment.

Additional reporting by agencies