Apple Hit With Record $1.2 Billion Fine Over French Sales Deals (LINK ONLY)

Bloomberg LINK ONLY | March 16, 2020 | By Gaspard Sebag

[Swordmaker]

LINK ONLY DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS.

Apple Hit With Record $1.2 Billion Fine Over French Sales Deals

[Swordmaker]

FRENCH Regulators, unrelated to the EU, fine Apple 1 billion Euros, ($1.2 billion) for what they call anti-competitive practices for having exclusive agreements with wholesale resellers for non-iPhone products in France instead of selling Apple products to all comers.—PING!

Apple fined $1.2 billion by France
PING!

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[Jonty30]

Europe is just using fines to collect taxes.

[fireman15]

PARIS — French regulators fined Apple 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) on Monday for striking deals to keep prices high, in the biggest-ever such sanction by France’s Competition Authority. The agency said Apple and top re-sellers agreed to align prices with Apple’s own pricing for its iPads and some other products.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/france-fines-apple-12-billion-anti-competitive-acts-69617694

[ConservativeMind]

“...for having exclusive agreements with wholesale resellers for non-iPhone products in France...”

Since when is Apple writing exclusive agreements for “non-iPhone products?” Are these non-Apple products that Apple is privately labeling as “Apple?”

That is one strange regulatory problem.

[VanDeKoik]

Seriously, France?

[Swordmaker]

Since when is Apple writing exclusive agreements for “non-iPhone products?” Are these non-Apple products that Apple is privately labeling as “Apple?”

Macintosh Computers, iPads, etc. All non-iPhone products sold in France through two competing wholesalers who had exclusive contracts with Apple to sell those products in addition to Apple’s own Apple Stores. They agreed to not undercut Apple’s own retail prices. This is a typical of an exclusive reseller agreement.

[House Atreides]

Europe is just using fines to collect taxes.
***********************************
Yep...from AMERICAN companies. Screw France!

[Zathras]

The EU sued Intel and Microsoft for similar made-up regulations.
They sued Intel to protect AMD and their fab agreement in Germany.
They sued Microsoft because it worked suing Intel.
Now they want revenge for the death of Nokia in cell phone.

I think they even sued Boeing to protect Airbus.

[SunkenCiv]

Well, that’s just gonna go really well for the French. :^)

[Vaquero]

Boeing has its own problems what with 737 Max.

[Richard Kimball]

Was the objection because Apple requires them to not price the products lower? I know a lot of companies do that. Canon won't let retailers sell for less than their suggested price, so companies like B&H will include several hundred in "freebies."

I can see where this could be considered price-fixing.

[TheBattman]

It’s other Apple products (other than iPhones - such as iPads, Mac computers, etc.)

This actually is a pretty common business practice among many more “premium” brands. A totally unrelated similarity is Stihl - a premier manufacturer of outdoor power tools (chainsaws, trimmers, etc.). If you are a Stihl dealer, you are not allowed to advertise prices other than MSRP, unless approved by Stihl. YOu can actually SELL at lower prices, but you cannot advertise it.

While I don’t consider Sony to be a truly premium brand, they have for decades had a similar policy (I don’t know if they still do). And almost ALL high-end electronics/audio manufacturers have similar policies.

NOW - I am not defending the practice, and indeed - I really dislike it. But, it is not an uncommon practice. And I absolutely don’t see any reasonable way to justify a $1.2 BILLION ruling!

I agree with another poster - this is the EU way of extracting extra taxes.