Apple Fined In Taiwan For iPhone Price Fixing 74
Frankie70 writes "Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has hit Apple with a small fine and warned the company that it may face a more substantial penalty if it doesn't stop interfering with carriers' iPhone pricing and the prices of the plans carriers sell alongside the iPhone. '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,' Taiwan's FTC said in a statement."
Nice (Score:5, Interesting)
Meddling in the deals between the carriers and the customers has been a tradition of theirs since the first iPhone. So it couldn't have happened to a more deserving corporation.
Too bad the fine itself is so laughably low that it's probably less than their yearly budget for toilet paper in their locations around the world.
"Nice", you say? (Score:4, Interesting)
If I were Apple, it would be business as usual as the fine can be recouped in just 20 minutes of worldwide operations. In fact, I'd be laughing all the way to the bank as I'd simply ask our field offices to add a few cents to the cost of devices.
This is surely some joke or useless gimmick.
No details (Score:4, Interesting)
Note that the linked article didn't say Apple actually influenced the pricing up or down; just that they asked to review and approve the plans. I think there's a fair chance they were, as stated, trying to prevent gouging. I've worked for plenty of Apple authorized dealers; the profit margin (often less than 10%) on Apple hardware just isn't enough to allow discounts. The only real influence Apple can offer is co-op advertising. That is, you sell below a certain price and Apple doesn't reimburse you for promoting their products.
I suspect that advertising allowance (and it's influence) doesn't exist in Taiwan. So, they want to maintain some control, to avoid shady dealers (any of THOSE in Taiwan?) from sullying the brand.