Apple Fined $150M+ By Italian Watchdog for Anti-Competitive Cooperation With Amazon

[Altivec88]

waiting for fanboys to defend apple on this matter....

So you are upset that Apple and Amazon are trying to tackle the huge problem of counterfeit products by limiting sellers to ones that are trusted. Think about it, Why would Apple or Amazon care if Luigi's side store sells a legitimate Apple product. It still originated from Apple at some point so they got their money, Amazon gets their commission so they get their money. The problem is when Luigi's side store also deals with China to get Apple counterfeit clones and sends that instead. This hurts Apple and more importantly the Customer. This type of action should be applauded, not fined. The result of this action will cause more Italian consumers being scammed.

The Italian government is very very very short on cash derived from scandal and corruption. This is just another scam on their part to get some easy money. This is clearly evident by the insanely high disproportionate fine for something that shouldn't even be a fine. But yah, its cool and hip to hang around Apple fan sites and be an anti Apple fanboy.

 

[DeepIn2U]

waiting for fanboys to defend apple on this matter....

In a word Frivolous fine.

Waiting for non-fans and Italian watchdog to come after Microsoft, Logitech, and any other tech company that has products for sale on their OWN site and stores and available on Amazon.

Still waiting on that one.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Judges said they are in the wrong, not customers....''Gonna cry now?''

lol ain't nobody crying here just shaking our heads at completely bias and frivilous fines and focused view.
Where is the fines against:
Logitech,
Microsoft,
Google,
Samsung,
ETC ... ALL for having products both available on their own site and stores or on BestBuy and other retailers and on Amazon.

Seems some only have tunnel vision when it comes to Apple. Seems we'll have a river to kayak on when this gets reverted or no-contest beaten.

 

[coso]

I’m a huge Amazon fan. Order today get it today or tomorrow. Prices are hard to beat. By from sold by Amazon only.

I never have to go and and deal with the public. Definitely a homebody.

In Italy prices are very easy to beat. I use it only for cables, cheap stuff and other things harder to find elsewhere. But there's a huge problem of theft, I don't know where in the distribution chain, and Amazon refuses to pay you back, blaming the customer. I stopped buying anything expensive on Amazon. It's not only a problem in Italy, but worldwide. Enjoy your Amazon while you can, I'm sure the first time you'll have a bad experience you'll be quite swift in changing your mind. This is what happens, there are hundreds or thousands of cases, I can't think it's the customers scamming Amazon (of course that happens too):

https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonprime/comments/mqpgl3

 

[KindJamz]

In Italy prices are very easy to beat. I use it only for cables, cheap stuff and other things harder to find elsewhere. But there's a huge problem of theft, I don't know where in the distribution chain, and Amazon refuses to pay you back, blaming the customer. I stopped buying anything expensive on Amazon. It's not only a problem in Italy, but worldwide. Enjoy your Amazon while you can, I'm sure the first time you'll have a bad experience you'll be quite swift in changing your mind. This is what happens, there are hundreds or thousands of cases, I can't think it's the customers scamming Amazon (of course that happens too):

https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonprime/comments/mqpgl3

Well I’m in America and have never even had a porch pirate strike. Of course the 100lb pit bull watching the door is a good deterrent.

The one time I didn’t receive a package. They sent another free of charge and when I got the original package and called them. I was told to keep it.

 

[MacDaddyPanda]

Or just buy high end audio instead of garbage Beats. Like B&W, Sony, KEF, Sennheiser, HifiMan, and other uber audiophile brands. Where beats and Bose are the laughing stock of the Audiophile moniker and bestowment.

 

[coso]

Well I’m in America and have never even had a porch pirate strike. Of course the 100lb pit bull watching the door is a good deterrent.

The one time I didn’t receive a package. They sent another free of charge and when I got the original package and called them. I was told to keep it.

The problem is on returns (or warranty send backs). You send the package back, and Amazon says it was empty. Then you’re screwed

 

[LV426]

Ethics and business dont go together. Business is there for one thing only. $$$$

How is google evil? The mine your data. They dont lie about it. They offer a killer package of software and services for this data. Works for everyone.

Now apple has fibbed about things before. Does that make them evil? Nah. It’s business

Morals and ethics. Lol.

Google "list of ethical companies". You might be surprised.

 

[coso]

Oh, lots of other "empty boxes" here https://www.amazonforum.com/s/quest...e-return-center-claims-the-box-is-empty-help-

Yeah keep buying from amazon... great customer service you say...

 

[hans1972]

The thing is that Amazon wouldn’t let any reseller not authorised from Apple to sell products on Amazon.

Let’s say that MediaWorld a big retail chain in Italy, Apple partner with genuine Apple products, decided to expand for whatever reason and sell on Amazon. Based on the allegations if Apple is not okey with it, Amazon than wouldn’t let MediaWorld sell on their platform.
This is not only against the Italian law but as mentioned by the Reuters article is against EU’s anticompetitive laws.

I don't have any problems if Amazon would let Apple approve who could sell Apple products on Amazon's store.

Unless Amazon and Apple has a very dominate market share for selling consumer electronics.

 

[hans1972]

A EU free market on commerce is something EU countries governments have championed for years of which a huge majority of companies hate because it means companies are not able to 'fix' the markets in their favour because if they do they get charged with anti competitive and antitrust laws. Mobile phone companies have done it and got caught, utility companies have done it and got caught, some car manufacturers on their spare parts did it and got caught. It happens all the time and will still happen because it is impossible for some companies to behave legally.

It's not a free market if you are not allowed to make trouble and difficulties for your competitors.

 

[bsolar]

Unless Amazon and Apple has a very dominate market share for selling consumer electronics.

That appears to be the case according to the initial document from the authority. There is a section where they identify the relevant market (online retail sale of consumer electronic products in Italy) and evaluate the top players in the marked based on revenue and site visits.

According to the data, Apple and Amazon easily overshadow any other player in that market.

 

[laptech]

It's not a free market if you are not allowed to make trouble and difficulties for your competitors.

It's not about making trouble or difficulties for other companies, what it is about is protecting consumers from deceptive and immoral business practices. Companies get screwed over all the time by other companies but you try and screw over the consumer and the law will come down on you hard.

 

[gfbio]

So you are upset that Apple and Amazon are trying to tackle the huge problem of counterfeit products by limiting sellers to ones that are trusted. Think about it, Why would Apple or Amazon care if Luigi's side store sells a legitimate Apple product. It still originated from Apple at some point so they got their money, Amazon gets their commission so they get their money. The problem is when Luigi's side store also deals with China to get Apple counterfeit clones and sends that instead. This hurts Apple and more importantly the Customer. This type of action should be applauded, not fined. The result of this action will cause more Italian consumers being scammed.

The Italian government is very very very short on cash derived from scandal and corruption. This is just another scam on their part to get some easy money. This is clearly evident by the insanely high disproportionate fine for something that shouldn't even be a fine. But yah, its cool and hip to hang around Apple fan sites and be an anti Apple fanboy.

The authority is independent from the government and hasn’t been even appointed by the current government. What the heck are you even talking about?

 

[Altivec88]

The authority is independent from the government and hasn’t been even appointed by the current government. What the heck are you even talking about?

Really? Seems you know a lot about the inner workings of this. So where did Italy's anti-competitive watchdog come from? Are you saying it just a bunch of random people that formed a group to save the day. So who's paying these people to do all this? Where does the fine money go?

 

[gfbio]

Really? Seems you know a lot about the inner workings of this. So where did Italy's anti-competitive watchdog come from? Are you saying it just a bunch of random people that formed a group to save the day. So who's paying these people to do all this? Where does the fine money go?

Oh boy, you are missing a detail. Seems trivial to underline it, but the watchdog is just alleging the violation of an EU market rule. Apple and Amazon will appeal and a judge will evalute the conformity of the fine to existing laws. It's not like an official wakes up in the morning and decides to apply a multi-million dollar fine.

 

[bsolar]

Oh boy, you are missing a detail. Seems trivial to underline it, but the watchdog is just alleging the violation of an EU market rule. Apple and Amazon will appeal and a judge will evalute the conformity of the fine to existing laws. It's not like an official wakes up in the morning and decides to apply a multi-million dollar fine.

To elaborate on this, the investigation officially started the 14/07/2020. The authority is non-governmental but partially state-financed and submits reports of its activity to the government.

 

[bsolar]

Where does the fine money go?

AFAIK it goes into a fund destined to finance pro-consumer initiatives identified by the government.

 

[XXPP]

Competing resellers may seem like something good to customers, but they aren't. The value of the equipment used drops significantly and the customer is actually losing money.

 

[Altivec88]

Oh boy, you are missing a detail. Seems trivial to underline it, but the watchdog is just alleging the violation of an EU market rule. Apple and Amazon will appeal and a judge will evalute the conformity of the fine to existing laws. It's not like an official wakes up in the morning and decides to apply a multi-million dollar fine.

I am the one missing a detail? You are the one saying that that this is not attached to the government in any way and no corruption is possible. It is state-funded which means its getting money from government. In order to keep getting funding, they must listen to instructions and produce. As I stated, even if the fine was valid, which its not, as their findings are opposite of the best interest of protecting consumers, its completely out of line with other fines. There are true cases of anti-compete going on and this is what they choose to go after to protect the people? The only reason for this absurd corrupt fine is that Apple and Amazon have money.

 

[Altivec88]

To elaborate on this, the investigation officially started the 14/07/2020. The authority is non-governmental but partially state-financed and submits reports of its activity to the government.

I see after gfbio told me I didn't know what I was talking about and said "The authority is independent from the government" he liked your comment stating "reports of its activity to the government". Maybe gfbio better figure out what he's talking about before telling people that they don't know what they are talking about.

 

[FlyingDutch]

I don’t know specifically about Amazon Italy , but here in Europe in general it is not that easy to find retailers selling iPhone on Amazon, other than apple. And this is quite suspicious.

 

[FlyingDutch]

All of these so called 'fines' are just nonsense - how often do you think Apple (or Amazon, or any other tech giant) actually end up paying them? OF COURSE they're appealing it, and will continue to do so ad infinitum and inevitably the respective governments will let it go eventually as the cost to the taxpayer will ultimately exceed the cost of the imposed 'fine' in the first place. The solution is simple - if you don't like Amazon, Apple or anyone else monopolising markets, stop using them.

Actually Apple paid quite a lot of fines here in Europe.

 

[yabeweb]

I don't believe "they" said it about China, but certainly about Korea.

Oh lots of people asked for it, remember the issue with low wages and high working hours, lots of people here were demanding Apple quit china market.

The same happened about the censorship thing.

 

[gfbio]

am the one missing a detail? You are the one saying that that this is not attached to the government in any way and no corruption is possible. It is state-funded which means its getting money from government. In order to keep getting funding, they must listen to instructions and produce.

This is not how authorities and watchdog are working in Italy. You seem very used to talk about stuff you don’t really know

As I stated, even if the fine was valid, which its not

LMAO, there is a 173 pages report on this case and you likely have no clue of EU market rules. However you consider your sentence, written on a forum in your spare time, to be more in line with the facts.

I see after gfbio told me I didn't know what I was talking about and said "The authority is independent from the government" he liked your comment stating "reports of its activity to the government". Maybe gfbio better figure out what he's talking about before telling people that they don't know what they are talking about.

Being partially founded by the government, and having to subit yearly reports on the activities, does not mean that the watchdog activities are driven by the government and by the politics. Not sure which standard you are used to, though.