The European Commission (EC) has announced that it has no problem green-lighting Apple’s $3 billion purchase of personal audio company Beats after reviewing the competitive landscape.
The EC said the purchase wouldn’t lead to an anti-competitive market “because the combined market share of Apple and Beats Electronics is low” – although that does mean it will have to battle with rivals like Bose, Sennheiser, Sony and a raft of other headphone manufacturers if it wants to make headway. Additionally, the EC said “the transaction would not give Apple the ability and incentive to shut out competing streaming services from access to iOS”, in regard to the Beats Music streaming service because of the presence and size of rivals like Spotify and Deezer.
So, the general gist: the purchase isn’t anti-competitive and can go ahead because in both the music streaming and headphone markets Apple will still have a fight on its hands.
➤ Commission approves Apple’s acquisition of US headphone maker and music streaming business Beats [via Engadget]
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