European Carriers Complain To EU About Anti-Competitive Contracts With Apple

whoever57 writes "Several European phone carriers have complained to the EU about the contracts that Apple imposes on them if they want to sell the iPhone. Because the contracts stipulate a minimum purchase, and the Carrier must compensate Apple if they fail to sell through that minimum, it has the effect of forcing the carrier to promote iPhones ahead of alternative phones. The European Commission is monitoring the situation. Apple claims that its 'contracts fully comply with local laws wherever we do business, including the EU.'"

Or just stop buying them

[Anonymous Coward]

Because if carriers stopped buying and selling apple products they would eventually fix their contract problem. Sign a contract with other carriers stating that for a year there would be no selling of i-products. Simple as that.

Re:Belgium does that

[walkerreuben]

As a computer nerd who owns an iPhone 5 and a Galaxy S3, I can tell you that no matter what I do with my Galaxy, my iPhone is still easier to use, more simple to navigate, and is always more stable. It does everything I need it to. The Galaxy. That's my fiddle phone. I can do anything I want with that phone, and it rarely complains. I can install different operating systems, I'm pretty sure I could dual boot if I wanted to. But so far every single thing I've done on my Galaxy that I couldn't do on my iPhone has been things only a nerd or geek would want to do. (Apart from use a proper Google Reader app, but that's no longer a problem with what's happening to it.) So in the end of my 6 month review of the two phones, I've come to the conclusion (I came to it ages ago actually) that while the Galaxy is the superior phone in nearly every way, the iPhone is the phone that's going to let the average customer do everything they need to do with hardly any worries. (It also feels stronger.) The average non-tech person who gets a smartphone doesn't want to dual boot it, they just want to use it. That's why Apple is so successful. (And when some damn saleperson talked my grandmother into getting a cheap android phone, I felt like taking it to the shop and stuffing it up ....... never mind. That was made worse by most of her children using iPhones and iPads.)

In some ways, yes.

[dutchwhizzman]

By becoming a cartel, it would be illegal. However, if one large provider would publicly announce it would stop doing business with apple and all the others would follow, there isn't much apple could do. If this was staged by the EU telcos and kept secret, apple would have the burden of proof. I think that a lot of EU telephone market movements are done this way, but I have no way of proving it, so it's just an expression of my opinion.

Re:Your American :)

[phayes]

It's funny how when it serves EU pride, like "We have the largest economy in the world", Europeans sum up the GDP, yet when it doesn't, like total amount of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere, that never happens...