While the Department of Justice battles Time Warner and AT&T in court to barricade one mega amalgamation , another business deal is getting held up by officials overseas . On Monday , the European Commission announced that it is has opened an anti - trust investigation into Apple ’s buyout of Shazam , potentially postponing the learning for month — or even killing it altogether .
In apress releaseissued today , the European Commission said :
The proposed dealings need Apple ’s acquisition of Shazam . It would combine two substantial and well known players in the digital music industry that are mainly combat-ready in completing business areas . In exceptional , Apple extend the music pour service “ Apple Music ” , which in the last three twelvemonth has become the secondly orotund music cyclosis Robert William Service supplier in Europe . Shazam offer the leading music recognition app for fluid devices in the European Economic Area ( EEA ) and worldwide . medicine recognition applications let consumers to recognise euphony based on a short audio frequency sample by using mike built into their mobile devices .
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)
The instruction break down on to say the EU is concerned that if the buyout goes through , Apple would realise accession to client data that would permit the company to send off aim ads to Shazam user enticing them to trade over , thereby increase Apple Music ’s market share and putting competitors such as Spotify and Deezer , who currently are listed as referral streaming services on Shazam alongside Apple Music , at a significant disadvantage .
While Apple ’s buyout ofShazam was first announcedlate last twelvemonth , the European Commission will now have 90 work days to make a ruling , with a Modern deadline of September 4th .
The EU may seem like it ’s being excessively cautious about the buyout , but it did n’t launch the investigation unprompted . In February , the European Commission accepted a request from Austria , France , Iceland , Italy , Norway , Spain , and Sweden for help assessing the acquisition , with each area fit in to abide by the European Commission ’s concluding decision in the matter .
If I had to hazard a guess , I ’d say Apple ’s buyout of Shazam will probably still go through , and this enquiry is just a minor delay in the mental process . However , it ’s dainty that the EU cares enough to check .
AppleApple MusicConsumer TechMusicShazam !
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