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Spotify and the iPhone were independently launched around the same time.

Spotify back then was developed as the answer against illegal alternatives.

The App Store didn't come out until nearly 2 1/2 years after Spotify, though.

Not true, iOS App Store came out Jul 2008.

Spotify came out 2010 in UK and 2011 in USA.

In Sweden it was launched 2008, first iphone was announced 2007, so yeah certainly wasn't world leading before the first iphone announcement.