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Apple hit by new competition complaint as iCloud launches

Germans' streams choked off by fondleslab stranglehold

A German music site has lodged a competition complaint against Apple ahead of its iCloud launch later today.

Simfy accused Apple of deliberately delaying approval of the company's iPad application in order to favour its own products. Simfy lodged its complaint with the German Federal Cartel Office and will also complain to European Union competition regulators.

The music company said in a blog post that it was a great fan of Apple products.

But it said it was unacceptable to wait more than three months for approval of its iPad app without any reason being given. It accuses Apple of abusing its dominant position, and control of the app store, in order to bolster its own products.

Simfy called on other application writers to join its complaint in order to keep the market fair for everyone.

Apple is already rowing with Sony for blocking an e-reader app which lets people buy from Sony's online store rather than through iTunes.

Simfy's statement on its Apple complaint is here, in Germany.

Later today Apple is unveiling its iCloud service - essentially pushing iTunes punters into an online warehouse. The service is expected to be free initially but is aiming to charge about $25 a year. We'll have more on the launch later.

Simfy is a music streaming service, it launched in May 2010. It makes money by subscriptions and adverts.

Apple was unable to comment at the time of writing. ®

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