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Apple Fined In Taiwan For iPhone Price Fixing

Posted by timothy on from the maximizing-returns dept.

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."

8 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Nice by lennier1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Nice by Virtucon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Resistance to what exactly? I see this is as a token gesture because we all know that in most nations the MSRP really means "you won't sell this for less." The problem for electronics manufacturers is that with global markets you can have a lot of variability that makes it more feasible to buy in one nation for a lower price and sell it in another for a higher price. That's why we have Blu-Ray/DVD Region Codes and Cell phones that have regional lock-in.

      --
      Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    2. Re:Nice by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The iPhone doesn't have anything even approaching a monopoly. Just buy an Android unit. Or a Windows unit. I like Apple's stuff, but it's not $500 better, for my needs, than my cheap Android phone. I'm all for banning monopolistic practices, but pricing agreements for a popular but non-monopoly product in a very competitive market are not a problem.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:Nice by Rockoon · · Score: 5, Informative

      And exactly why shouldn't a company be allowed to decide how much its product should cost?

      Because its wrong.

      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.

      I'm sure that Apple doesnt want to accept the consequences of these resellers being agents of Apple, primary of which is complete liability with regards to the agents actions and behavior. Yet Apple wants them to be agents in every other respect. Thats not how it works, and is why we have anti-trust laws.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    4. Re:Nice by dk20 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Now compare this with most companies ability to outsource with ease as labour is cheaper elsewhere.

      Region locks prevent consumers from benefiting from "Globalization" even though companies can exploit it at will. If i can get a legal DVD from China for around a dollar and it has an english soundtrack why shouldn't I be able to import these back? Isn't this the same mechanism outsourcing uses (jobs to where labour is cheap, but yet you cant reimport the cheap products back)?

  2. "Nice", you say? by bogaboga · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:"Nice", you say? by LordLimecat · · Score: 3, Informative

      Its funny till you start getting hit with fines for wilfully ignoring their instructions. I recall a similar incident where Microsoft decided to ignore an EU ruling, and got hit with fines in the neigborhood of ~$3million per day of continued infringement.

  3. No details by scotts13 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.