Apple Korea Pledges $84 Million to Support Small Businesses and Settle Antitrust Probe

[MacRumors]

Apple's South Korea business has offered to make a 100 billion won ($84 million) payout to support small businesses and help consumers, according to the country's competition watchdog (via Reuters).

The Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) investigated Apple Korea in 2016 for requiring SK Telecom, KT Corp, and LG Uplus Corp to pay the cost of television advertisements and warranty service for its iPhones. The probe found that Apple holds a clear advantage over local mobile carriers and that handing over the cost of advertisements was another means of squeezing the profits of the carriers.

In June of this year, the antitrust regulator decided to allow Apple to map out a set of measures to address its anti-competitive business practices in the country, and Apple has now agreed to fix unfair terms with mobile carriers as part of its proposal. Apple said it will discuss how to share advertising costs with telecoms firms, which will help reduce burdens to carriers, the KFTC said in a briefing.

Apple has reportedly pledged to offer 40 billion won ($34 million) to build a center to support research and development for Korea's small manufacturers and 25 billion won ($21 million) to establish an "academy" to provide education to developers. The rest of the 100 billion won would be used to give consumer discounts on warranty repair costs and other benefits, according to Reuters.

Provided the KFTC accepts Apple's offer, the regulator will close the case and conclude that Apple has not done anything illegal.

Even if that does happen though, Apple could be facing another probe by Korean regulators for its business practices. Last week, an alliance of app developers and small companies submitted a petition to the Korea Communications Commission asking for an investigation into whether Apple and Google may be violating Korean laws on in-app purchases and anti-competitive behavior.

Article Link: Apple Korea Pledges $84 Million to Support Small Businesses and Settle Antitrust Probe

 

[itsmilo]

Sounds like bribery

 

[CthuluLemon]

Sounds like bribery

To you, and only because it doesn't favor Apple's monopoly ?

 

[LeeW]

Whatever it is, many will benefit so there are positives regardless of how they have come about.

 

[mrcloaked]

Hush money might work.

 

[NMBob]

Sounds like extorsion.

 

[atoqir]

Seems they are getting scared and don't want the risk of losing because the EU and US will use this in their own ruling.

And lose they will. #FreeIOS

 

[EmotionalSnow]

Sounds like bribery

It’s called settlement

 

[Wildkraut]

Yeahh that’s Apple, trying to buy rights to insult and abuse.
I hope KFTC don’t accept this.

 

[syklee26]

Apple was in line to be fined approximately 420 million dollars, which is 5 times the amount it is committing to contribute. So this is a chump change they are proposing to settle the case.

Before messing with TelCos, Apple has for years ruthlessly bullied the authorized resellers, who are small businesses with absolutely zero negotiating power against Apple. However, once they started bullying conglomerates such as SKT, KT and LG, these TelCos fought back with full support from Korean government, they were getting into a losing battle. I am sure Samsung somehow got involved as well.

Apple has dragged out the legal process as much as they could, but their time is running out and they are making the last ditch effort to settle. Korean governmental agencies generally impose hefty fines and settle for far less, so I think they will settle. But Apple can no longer mess around, and they deserve every cent of penalty they face.

 

[twinkletwinkle]

When I read this news article, I googled what is 'hush money'

The useful link is - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hush_money

Hush money is a term for a form of bribery[1] in which one person or party offers another an attractive sum of money or other enticement, in exchange for remaining silent about some illegal, stigmatic, or shameful behavior, action, or other fact about the person or party who has made the offer.[2]

Alternatively it can be money paid to placate a disgruntled adversary who may disclose embarrassing information, even if untrue. This is to save the intended person the harm and hassle of dealing with defamation.

The person or party who presents the hush money may be attempting to avoid criminal prosecution, a lawsuit (as sometimes in the case of an out-of-court settlement), a leak of information to the news media, or silence about a stigmatic issue within one's own community. The information being covered up may include illegal activity, such as drug dealing, or some personal secret, such as an extramarital affair. In some cases, a government agency may be involved in the offer of hush money in order to protect the agency's employees, politicians and their appointees, or a national government in its standing among other nations in the world. It is usually given under the table.[3]

Hush money can refer to money paid for an agreement of confidentiality, which can be breached under court order. It can also refer to an agreement to say a thing didn't happen that did happen, even in court testimony. The latter type of agreement can be a criminal act itself as an obstruction of justice.

Apple you being too greedy!!

 

[justperry]

Apple was in line to be fined approximately 420 million dollars, which is 5 times the amount it is committing to contribute. So this is a chump change they are proposing to settle the case.

Before messing with TelCos, Apple has for years ruthlessly bullied the authorized resellers, who are small businesses with absolutely zero negotiating power against Apple. However, once they started bullying conglomerates such as SKT, KT and LG, these TelCos fought back with full support from Korean government, they were getting into a losing battle. I am sure Samsung somehow got involved as well.

Apple has dragged out the legal process as much as they could, but their time is running out and they are making the last ditch effort to settle. Korean governmental agencies generally impose hefty fines and settle for far less, so I think they will settle. But Apple can no longer mess around, and they deserve every cent of penalty they face.

They should not accept it, if Apple was wrong they should pay the full amount, it's unfair for the citizens of South Korea, if they get fined they have to pay the full amount, not only that, it's community money.