Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Apple
    • Apple
    • Mobile

    Apple Fined in Taiwan for ‘Interfering’ with iPhone Pricing Policies

    By
    Pedro Hernandez
    -
    December 26, 2013
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission has levied a $667,000 fine, which amounts to 20 million New Taiwan dollars, against Apple due to company’s iPhone pricing policies in that country.

      Apple is allowed to appeal the ruling but must “stop interfering with mobile service providers and handset distributors’ pricing,” Jenny W. Hsu of the Wall Street Journal wrote in her report. Failure to comply could result in a heftier fine of NT$50 million.

      Either fine is unlikely to have much of an effect on Apple’s bottom line. The iPhone and iPad maker reported revenues of $37.5 billion and net profit of $7.5 billion on Oct. 28 for its fiscal fourth quarter. Apple sold a record 33.8 million iPhones during the period.

      Despite stiff competition from Samsung and other Android handset makers, Apple is poised to set more records. The company announced on Dec. 22 that its iPhone 5S and 5C handsets will finally go on sale through China Mobile, the world’s largest cellular provider with 760 million subscribers, in Jan. 2014.

      Taiwan’s trade regulators accused Apple of setting how much three wireless operators, Chunghwa Telecom, Far Eastone Telecommunication and Taiwan Mobile, can charge for iPhones, in violation of the country’s Fair Trade Act, Article 18. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company also sought to influence their rate structures.

      Article 18 of the country’s Fair Trade Act falls under Chapter 3, entitled Unfair Competition. It states:

      “Where an enterprise supplies goods to its trading counterpart for resale to a third party or such third party makes further resale, the trading counterpart and the third party shall be allowed to decide their [resale] prices freely; any agreement contrary to this provision shall be void.”

      In a statement, the commission laid out its proof. “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.”

      The commission asserted that Apple “has no right to meddle in companies’ iPhone pricing plans after selling them distribution rights,” said the report. Further, the Taiwanese wireless service providers “can distribute or resell iPhones at their complete discretion after paying Apple for those rights.”

      Apple was found to have asserted more influence with resellers than is allowed by Taiwan’s laws. Among the commission’s findings, VentureBeat’s Eric Blattberg noted that “Apple required the companies to adjust those plans, the subsidies they offered with iPhone contracts, and the price difference between the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5.”

      The commission discovered no such interference on the Android front. Handset makers HTC, Samsung and Sony, although investigated, did not strike “similar agreements with Taiwan’s telecom companies,” added Blattberg.

      Avatar
      Pedro Hernandez
      Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to eWEEK and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×