Spotify said in mid-September that Apple approved an audiobook update. Spotify launched the feature a few days later, promoting his 300,000 titles to be made available.
Wall Street analyst Mark Mahaney, who tracks Spotify at investment bank Evercore ISI, tested the new audiobook service. He found it annoying to have to enter his payment information even though Spotify already had it. He took the complaint to Spotify’s chief financial officer, Paul Vogel, via email.
“Why is it so bad?” Mahaney wrote. “So, can you fix it?”
Then, when Spotify submitted an app update that included features unrelated to audiobooks, Apple rejected it. According to Spotify, App Store reviewers told Spotify that the previously approved audiobook offering violated rules requiring apps to unlock new features using Apple’s payment system. He said that there is
Zicherman’s team changed the emails customers receive to remove the buy button that was previously included. They replaced it with an email offering customers a link to browse audiobook titles on Spotify.
A few days later, Apple rejected Spotify’s change, saying it violated App Store rules by providing customers with a button to receive emails about other purchasing options. An Apple spokesperson said Spotify also had discrepancies in external links within the app, directing people to his web address that was different from the one approved by Apple. Spotify says the link has nothing to do with audiobooks and that issue has been resolved.
Zicherman said his team consulted Spotify’s legal staff before deciding to remove the email stage from the audiobook process. Instead, they told listeners to go to Spotify’s website and buy the book.
“What we have now is effectively a dead end,” said Mr. Zickerman.
On Monday, Spotify announced that Apple had rejected Mr. Zickerman’s latest redesign. He and his team of product designers, engineers and lawyers worked on his four other options until early Tuesday morning. They removed instructions to his Spotify website and detailed information about audiobooks, making it the responsibility of customers to figure out how to complete their purchases online. The change he got Apple’s approval, he said, Spotify.
“You can’t buy audiobooks in the app” now appears on the landing page. “I know it’s not ideal.”