Among all the public rants that Apple Inc. has been subjected to, the most recent comes from Sean Parker, Director at Spotify (also former Facebook president). According to Parker, Apple apparently was the bone of contention for the music streaming company’s release in the US. The release was delayed by nearly two and a half-year after the company’s services were launched in Europe.
Parker made the revelation in the recently concluded D10 conference on Wednesday. According to him, Apple indulged in this behavior only because iTunes was facing major competition from Spotify, even though iTunes has major dominance in the music distribution scene in the US currently. Parker is reported to have said as an explanation to the revelation, “You hear things, people send you emails.”
Spotify was created in 2006 in Sweden, and had already become a major sensation in Europe in 2010. However, the US came in contact with it only in July 2011.
Parker tried to downplay his accusation, adding that the music sector is one small part of their booming company, and that it may not be too particularly concerned about actual competition from companies like Spotify.
Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO of Spotify, did not add to Parker’s claims, in spite of his presence at the time when Parker made this accusation. However, Ek had some neat statistics laid out before Parker’s comments, when he mentioned that Spotify serves around 10 million users in US, out of which 3 million are paying customers.
Whether the statements were made in attempt to tread on Apple’s steady success, or as a way to uncover Apple’s insecurity, will stay largely in question.