Apple Fined by Taiwanese Regulators Over iPhone Price Fixing

Wednesday December 25, 2013 12:14 PM PST by Richard Padilla
5c_and_5s Apple has been fined 20 million New Taiwan dollars ($670,000) by the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission after the company was found to be unlawfully influencing the price of the iPhone on the country's cell phone carriers, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Under article 18 of Taiwan's Fair Trade Act, an enterprise is not allowed to decide the prices of their goods after handing them over to a third party for resale. The company reportedly asked Taiwan's three major service providers to adjust iPhone rates, including Chunghwa Telecom, Far Eastone Telecommunication, and Taiwan Mobile.
"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," it said in a statement.
Apple may choose to appeal the Taiwanese government's decision, however it may face a fine of 50 million New Taiwan dollars ($1,700,000) if it does not comply with the initial ruling. Furthermore, the ruling itself applies to iPhones only, with the government having no current plans to investigate Apple's price interference with iPads in the region. Apple's office in Taiwan has also not issued a statement on ruling.

Tag: wsj.com
29 comments


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Klae17
72 months ago

As far as I can tell, this is an issue about Taiwan's retail market, not what one American retailer does.

To my knowledge, Taiwan retail laws are not enforceable in the USA.

I know this is a rather rhetorical question, but are people on the Internet really this bad at reading comprehension?


Lets not be dim about it. I'm saying apple lets Walmart discount it so much, why would they have a problem with Taiwan doing the same? You clearly demonstrated you text enlargement skills though. Very impressive.
Rating: 5 Votes
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mpantone
72 months ago

Well Apple lets Wal Mart sell their phones for $27 and $127.

As far as I can tell, this is an issue about Taiwan's retail market, not what one American retailer does.

To my knowledge, Taiwan retail laws are not enforceable in the USA.

I know this is a rather rhetorical question, but are people on the Internet really this bad at reading comprehension?
Rating: 4 Votes
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Parasprite
72 months ago

As far as I can tell, this is an issue about Taiwan's retail market, not what one American retailer does.

To my knowledge, Taiwan retail laws are not enforceable in the USA.

I know this is a rather rhetorical question, but are people on the Internet really this bad at reading comprehension?


I think they meant that in the USA Apple was allowing retailers to sell their iPhones at a different retail price than the other retailers, therefore are they even doing this practice in the USA?

Not that I am agreeing that Walmart has any such relevance here, or that the statement even makes much sense.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Klae17
72 months ago
Well Apple lets Wal Mart sell their phones for $27 and $127.
Rating: 2 Votes
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tdiaz
72 months ago
So.. don't actually transfer the iPhone to the third party retailer, just grant them the ability to sell it, through Apple's back end. OTOH, the whole industry is driven by this model.
Rating: 2 Votes
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fermat-au
72 months ago
If Apple want to sell phones outside the US they need to do so under the laws of that country.

Apple have far more control over pricing in the US than they have in most other parts of the world. In Australia the iPhone is sold under a different model than the US. Here in Australia people can buy the iPhone unsubsidised and unlocked from Apple or subsidised from the carrier. Apple sets the wholesale price but the carriers set the retail price. This creates competition between the carriers to give the user the best deal (monthly cost) to get an iPhone.
Rating: 2 Votes
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OriginalMacRat
72 months ago

Well Apple lets Wal Mart sell their phones for $27 and $127.


That's not the price of the iPhone.

It's a down payment you pay for the privilege of signing up for a 2yr contract.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Twimfy
72 months ago

That's not the price of the iPhone.

It's a down payment you pay for the privilege of signing up for a 2yr contract.


Yup, I find this whole "get an iPhone for £99" marketing thing totally mind boggling. More often than not if you sit and work out how much you're paying over that two years minus the cost of the tariff (as it would be if you just signed up for a plan with no phone) you're paying about twice the amount for the device itself.

That's why I paid a hefty "deposit" upfront for my 5C practically buying the phone outright and then ensuring that my plan costs very little per month. The downside of this is that I don't really own the phone and I'm tied to the network but at least my buy out cost for the contract isn't something absurd if I wanted to go down that route.
Rating: 1 Votes
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Donoban
72 months ago

Yup, I find this whole "get an iPhone for £99" marketing thing totally mind boggling. More often than not if you sit and work out how much you're paying over that two years minus the cost of the tariff (as it would be if you just signed up for a plan with no phone) you're paying about twice the amount for the device itself.

That's why I paid a hefty "deposit" upfront for my 5C practically buying the phone outright and then ensuring that my plan costs very little per month. The downside of this is that I don't really own the phone and I'm tied to the network but at least my buy out cost for the contract isn't something absurd if I wanted to go down that route.


Agreed.

In Australia you could get an iPhone 32gb on an $82 month plan over 24 months with Telstra (major telco) vs buying it outright for $1000 + going on a $19 a month plan. You're about $500 ahead after 2 years. Not much money? Thats probably 6 months of groceries, a set of new tyres for a standard car, etc, etc...

But hey, who am I to dish out financial advance, I'm just some random on the internet.
Rating: 1 Votes
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