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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.
Top Rated Comments
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.
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?
Not that I am agreeing that Walmart has any such relevance here, or that the statement even makes much sense.
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.
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.