Slashdot Mirror
Apple Fined In Taiwan For iPhone Price Fixing
Frankie70 writes "Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has hit Apple with a small fine and warned the company that it may face a more substantial penalty if it doesn't stop interfering with carriers' iPhone pricing and the prices of the plans carriers sell alongside the iPhone. 'Through the email correspondence between Apple and these three telecom companies we discovered the companies submit their pricing plans to Apple to be approved or confirmed before the products hit the market,' Taiwan's FTC said in a statement."
Meddling in the deals between the carriers and the customers has been a tradition of theirs since the first iPhone. So it couldn't have happened to a more deserving corporation.
Too bad the fine itself is so laughably low that it's probably less than their yearly budget for toilet paper in their locations around the world.
The FTC immediately apologizes after a stern warning by the government.
If I were Apple, it would be business as usual as the fine can be recouped in just 20 minutes of worldwide operations. In fact, I'd be laughing all the way to the bank as I'd simply ask our field offices to add a few cents to the cost of devices.
This is surely some joke or useless gimmick.
Cell phones have lock-in so you pay roaming and other stuff like 2+ year deals also the carriers in past even wanted you to only buy from there store and there ringtone / game / app store.
every small shop and large carrier everywhere has to charge the same price for Apple products like the iPhone. That's why most don't bother selling them. When my company just recently reviewed which phone model to get, they were flexible on every phone pricing and had credits etc except iPhones. So Apple priced themselves right out of the market. One of our Apple fanboy employees still looked into them but even they couldn't justify that idiotic of an expense for a fragile phone model.
Probably what will happen is apple will buy all of the Taiwanese cell providers, then set prices as they like.
Convicted and fined in the USA for price fixing.
Fined in Korea for price fixing.
Once a criminal, always a criminal.
Note that the linked article didn't say Apple actually influenced the pricing up or down; just that they asked to review and approve the plans. I think there's a fair chance they were, as stated, trying to prevent gouging. I've worked for plenty of Apple authorized dealers; the profit margin (often less than 10%) on Apple hardware just isn't enough to allow discounts. The only real influence Apple can offer is co-op advertising. That is, you sell below a certain price and Apple doesn't reimburse you for promoting their products.
I suspect that advertising allowance (and it's influence) doesn't exist in Taiwan. So, they want to maintain some control, to avoid shady dealers (any of THOSE in Taiwan?) from sullying the brand.
This reads like "Apple's price-fixing is interfering with carrier price-fixing". Cry me a frigging river.
Meddling in the deals between the carriers and the customers has been a tradition of theirs since the first iPhone. So it couldn't have happened to a more deserving corporation.
Too bad the fine itself is so laughably low that it's probably less than their yearly budget for toilet paper in their locations around the world.
That fine barely covers their DAILY budget - considering all the BS Apple is able to generate.
Please explain how region codes benefit the consumer.
The benefit to the consumer is that the adaptation of a work is allowed to be made at all.
Say a company has a decades-long contract, which predates home broadband, from the owner of copyright in a book to sublicense the book's movie rights in one particular region. Now a movie studio wants to make a movie based on the book. The sublicensor is willing to license the movie rights only on the condition that the movie not be screened or sold on home video outside the region for which the sublicensor is allowed to sublicense the film rights. So as part of negotiating this sublicense, the movie studio guarantees to the sublicensor that region coding be employed on platforms that allow it. Other underlying works, such as a book or movie adapted into a video game or popular music used in a movie or video game, may be subject to the same preexisting territorial exclusivity constraints.
A similar situation arises from differences in copyright terms among countries (life + 50, life + 70, and publication + 95 years) if, say, a movie or video game is based on a book.
Ha Ha
this is wrong (besides the crap grammar) - multi-year contracts are just that - contracts. there is no need to force lockin because of that. anything else is anti-competitive practice
Rich
So how should one go about convincing 51 percent of eligible voters in your country 1. to have the same zero respect, and 2. to elevate this zero respect above abortion rights or other major single issues keeping the major parties in power?
You are confusing what Apple sells its devices to resellers for, and what the resellers then sell the devices for.
Apple has every right to determine the first, but has no right to determine the second.
In the US, Apple has the right to determine both as long as they negotiate separate deals with each reseller.
So said SCOTUS http://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/dealings-supply-chain/manufacturer-imposed
The Carriers are a monopoly power, they compete as little as possible because they know they are the only choice. Being all in the stock market, they have like minded institutional share holders who probably invest in the group of them - which makes them even more unlikely to truly complete; while the short term investors do push them to compete the net result is they will do nothing to lower prices but will compete with approximately the same levels of infrastructure investment (as little as possible.)
Price fixing is the NORM for telecom, so it is kind of sick that Apple is caught doing it against them - doesn't matter if it was right or wrong, it's still price fixing. The laws can be circumvented, Apple may learn how or people will be hacking around with imported devices.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
It should be outright illegal for any company to supply goods to a downstream company and then tell that company what price they are going to charge to consumers.
Apple should have NO right to set prices, it should be up to phone carriers and to retailers what price is charged for iDevices. If I am a retailer and want to sell iPads for $50 (maybe as a loss leader to get people into the store), I should be allowed to do that with Apple being prohibited from penalizing me from doing so.
In the US phones have lock in because you dont buy them, you rent them from your supplier and they call it a subsidy or even a free phone, and you idiots lap it up every time.
If they didnt lock you in you wouldnt be paying the rent anymore obviously.
You thought that free phone was free, ive got a bridge id like to sell you.