TAIPEI, December 26 – Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission fined Apple $666,700 for restricting the prices charged by local telecoms carriers for their iPhone contracts, the first time Apple has been fined for such practices.
The regulator said that Apple Asia, a unit of the Cupertino-based company, required carriers to obtain its permission before setting contract prices on iPhones in violation of Taiwan’s free-trade laws.
Apple Asia also told carriers to alter service contract prices and subsidy prices, according to an FTC statement on Wednesday, leading to the fine of T$20m ($666,700).
Officials with Apple Asia could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
The three carriers – Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone Telecommunications – had all obtained reseller rights under their contracts with Apple, which gave them the right to set prices, FTC spokesman Sun Lih-chyun said.
Apple has been facing challenges in the rapidly-evolving marketplace for the smartphones in which it once held a commanding lead.
The company recently reported that it signed a long-awaited deal with China Mobile, China’s largest telecoms carrier, to sell its iPhones, raising hopes that it may make significant inroads in the world’s largest smartphone market.
via apple - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGdt9bT5-FBPksmvuUW8y3ZIW5wwg&url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3f8dce78-6de4-11e3-bbc6-00144feabdc0.html
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment