Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
Spotify — one of Apple’s biggest critics — says Apple’s new plan to comply with the European Union’s tech regulations is “a complete and total farce.” In a post published on Spotify’s website, the company calls Apple’s new app installation fee “extortion, plain and simple” and says Apple is trying to force developers not to leave its store.
The fee, which Apple calls the Core Technology Fee, will require developers using third-party app stores to pay €0.50 for each annual app install after 1 million downloads. Spotify says the new tax will hurt developers, especially if they’re offering apps for free. “From our read of Apple’s proposal, a developer would have to pay this fee even if a user downloaded the app, never used it and forgot to…