French Regulators Set to Levy Fine Against Apple for Anticompetitive Behavior

Thursday March 12, 2020 12:10 pm PDT by Juli Clover

France's competition authority is set to fine Apple next Monday for anticompetitive behavior in its distribution and sales network, reports Reuters.

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Specific details about the fine and the fine amount are expected to be announced next week, and there's no word yet on just how much Apple will owe.

Apple in its October earnings call said that France's competition authority had alleged that some aspects of its sales and distribution practices were in violation of French law, but did not provide details on which aspects of its business were under investigation.

In June 2019, the French Competition Authority ("FCA") issued a report alleging that aspects of the Company's sales and distribution practices in France violate French competition law. The Company vigorously disagrees with the allegations, and a hearing of arguments was held before the FCA on October 15, 2019. The Company is awaiting the decision of the FCA, which may include a fine.

Apple earlier this year was fined 25 million euros by French consumer fraud group DGCCRF for intentionally slowing down iPhone 6, iPhone SE, and iPhone 7 models with the power management software that was meant to prevent older iPhones with degraded batteries from shutting down during times of peak power usage.

Tag: France

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Top Rated Comments

Alan Wynn

86 months ago

Dunno. I do think Apple are anti competitive though.
The Appstore is a great example.

Funny, I think the App Store is a great example of competition at work. Consumers have two choices Apple’s walled garden and Android’s free for all.

iOS apps especially. For Mac apps, I ALWAYS buy the non App Store version.

On the other hand, I always try to buy the Mac App Store version. I like to be able to download it to any Mac I own and take advantage of family sharing for those apps that support it. Such a better experience than having to create credentials on every store for every product, worrying not just about their product, but their processes for keeping my information safe, etc.

Another great competitive choice!

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

entropys

86 months ago

In the eyes of French regulators, Apple‘ greatest crime is it is not French.

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

miniyou64

86 months ago

Why should a for profit company not be anticompetitive? Ridiculous. What competition do the French regulators have?

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

abhibeckert

86 months ago

Last I checked, Android apps don't work on iOS devices so it's not an alternative.

Mac apps don’t work on Windows and nobody was ever fined over that. You can’t play blue ray movies on a DVD player either.

Walled gardens in computing have been around forever - try selling a game for nintendo hardware without going through them for example. It’s perfectly legal.

Why would phones be any different?

This would be something else - I expect it has to do with hardware sales and the terms of some contract Apple makes everyone sign.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Seoras

86 months ago

I just don't get this hatred of Apple's walled garden and locked app store. Before the age of the smart phone we were in the age of the PCs which were crippled with virus protection software, constantly needing updates that slowed down even the fastest of machines.
A walled garden, with an App store that requires developers to follow rules and go through a review process, makes for a system that doesn't need bloatware security from a 3rd party.
I do ALL my banking now on my iPhone because I trust it.
Damn sure I wouldn't do it on an Android. "But, but I have to have root access to MY smart phone, because it is MINE!"
Good for you...

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)