European officials on Monday gave their stamp of approval to the Apple-Beats deal, concluding that Cupertino's $3 billion purchase of Beats does not raise competition concerns.
"The Commission concluded that the combination of the two businesses did not raise competition concerns because the combined market share of Apple and Beats Electronics is low," the European Commission said in a statement. "In addition, Apple and Beats Electronics are not close competitors because the headphones they sell differ markedly in functionality and design."
The commission also found that there will be plenty of competitors once the Beats-Apple deal is closed, like Sennheiser, Sony, and Bose (which just sued Beats for patent infringement).
The EU also looked at whether the deal would impact digital music.
"The Commission concluded that Apple faces several competitors in the EEA such as Spotify and Deezer, making it implausible that the acquisition of a smaller streaming service that is not active in the EEA would lead to anticompetitive effects," the EU said of Beats Music, which is not yet available in Europe.
Apple is also unlikely to shut out rivals on iOS once the Beats deal closes, the EU said. "Apple was already active in the distribution of digital music before the merger. Hence, the merger would not change Apple's ability or incentive to block access to its iOS."
In May, Apple announced that it will pay $3 billion for Beats Electronics and its Beats Music streaming-music service, making it Apple's largest acquisition to date. The purchase price is $2.6 billion, plus $400 million that will vest over time. As part of the deal, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple.
During a recent earnings call, Apple said it expects the Beats deal to close this quarter. On that call, Apple also said it has completed 29 acquisitions since the beginning of fiscal year 2013, and that shows no signs of slowing down.
Over the weekend, Re/code reported that Apple is in talks to purchase talk radio app Swell for $30 million. Swell is kind of like Pandora for news radio — you listen to what it plays, and if you don't like it you can swipe to move on.
Recently, Apple also acquired BookLamp, a company that greatly enhances the book recommendation process, for around $10 to $15 million.
For more, see Apple Is Buying Beats to Go After Spotify, as well as 5 Reasons Why Apple Shouldn't Buy Beats, and 5 Reasons Why It Should.