Egypt says Apple is violating competition rules, has 60 days to act

Posted:
in General Discussion
Apple and its regional distributor have 60 days to change how they do business in Egypt or face with legal corrective action by the Egyptian Competition Authority, according to a new government decree.

Cairo, Egypt


Apple is breaking the law by preventing its Middle East distributor, Arab Business Machine, from selling to local Egyptian distributors -- deterring "intra-brand competition," the Competition Authority said. The iPhone maker is also said to be blocking parallel imports of its products.

Elaborating, the Competition Authority argued that although businesses have a right to segment sales by region, the Egyptian market has effectively been isolated from the rest of the Middle East, causing local prices to skyrocket.

The Egyptian Competition Authority has a role similar to that of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which also oversees antitrust issues, such as Qualcomm's controversial chip-selling practices.

iPhone prices in the country can sometimes be as much as 50 percent higher than other Middle Eastern nations. Bloomberg gave the example of a 512-gigabyte iPhone XS Max, which costs the equivalent of $1,306 in the United Arab Emirates but a whopping $1,983 in Egypt. The standard U.S. price is $1,449.

Apple is facing increasing global scrutiny for potentially anti-competitive practices. In Japan for example the company has been accused of undermining a Yahoo game platform, and in the U.S. a battle is ongoing over whether the iOS App Store constitutes a monopoly.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    So what if it is a monopoly? Monopolies aren't illegal. Anti-competitive practices are illegal. If you start a company selling a widget that no one else makes, you have a monopoly. Unless you force retailers to sell ONLY your widgets by threatening to withhold them if they sell a new widget made by someone else, your monopoly is completely legal. This is what got Microsoft into trouble when they told Windows hardware manufacturers that they could only sell computers with Windows installed if they also refused to install any other web browsers. The government found this was anti-competitive and fined Microsoft heavily for it. Apple is the only company that sells macOS-equipped computers. They build and sell all the hardware and operating system software. While they may have a monopoly on macOS computers, they aren't forcing BestBuy et al to sell exclusively Apple hardware at the expense of other operating systems. If Apple told Walmart to stop selling Android tablets or face losing access to iPads, that would anti-competitive and illegal.
    MacPromac_dogcharlesgreswatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 20
    As usual Reuter’s and it’s vaguely written negative articles trying to sway opinions away from Apple.

    SpamSandwichjbdragonDeelronwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 20
    Reuter’s daily practice.
    why have to back up anything.

    SpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 20
    iPhones are that much cheaper in UAE than USA?
  • Reply 5 of 20
    Maybe things are more expensive in Egypt because doing business there is very risky?
    jbdragon
  • Reply 6 of 20
    Speaker of Bloomberg reports, when are they going to retract their bogus claims of spy chips? Super Micro has announced the results of an external investigation and guess what? No spy chips. (spy chips - a tasty snack!)
    jbdragonSpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 20
    The only thing I know about Egypt is we pay for their military, and once (long ago) they had a civilization worth mentioning.

    Ban Apple products in Egypt... no one cares.

    Sounds like a money grab...
  • Reply 8 of 20
    Speaker of Bloomberg reports, when are they going to retract their bogus claims of spy chips? Super Micro has announced the results of an external investigation and guess what? No spy chips. (spy chips - a tasty snack!)
    Thats the problem now a days w these news outlets, thye have the power to spread things that are not true and get away w it, at the same time the company they accused suffered....
    whats wrong w that picture eh??
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 20
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,625member
    pdbreske said:
    So what if it is a monopoly? Monopolies aren't illegal.
    Isn't Egypt saying that the way Apple is operating in Egypt is illegal? Nothing to do with US law, nor any other region for that matter.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,625member
    Speaker of Bloomberg reports, when are they going to retract their bogus claims of spy chips? Super Micro has announced the results of an external investigation and guess what? No spy chips. (spy chips - a tasty snack!)
    Whataboutism? Gotta be careful about sending threads off-topic.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member
    What is the market share of iphone in Egypt? I guess in the single digits. So Egyptian government is accusing Apple not trying to be more competitive? I got it!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 20
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    the Egyptian market has effectively been isolated from the rest of the Middle East” - perhaps they should sort their regional relationships out then. Don’t blame Apple.  I fail to see how adding extra layers of commerce benefits the customer for a premium, low-volume product.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 20
    so if they pull iPhone from there, the prices will REALLY skyrocket. and demand will be greater. just start pulling Apple from countries until the people change the government. easy - just need patience.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 20
    kmareikmarei Posts: 206member
    The only thing I know about Egypt is we pay for their military, and once (long ago) they had a civilization worth mentioning.

    Ban Apple products in Egypt... no one cares.

    Sounds like a money grab...
    Incorrect
    you dont pay for our military.
    you give us military aid which we have to spend on US arms
    so in fact it's US government assistance for US arms manufacturers 

    Key
  • Reply 15 of 20
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    As usual Reuter’s and it’s vaguely written negative articles trying to sway opinions away from Apple.

    Yes but in this case it is needed!   Apple has been getting away with a lot of auestionable practices and people are finally standing up and saying this isn’t right.  
    Key
  • Reply 16 of 20
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Kuyangkoh said:
    Speaker of Bloomberg reports, when are they going to retract their bogus claims of spy chips? Super Micro has announced the results of an external investigation and guess what? No spy chips. (spy chips - a tasty snack!)
    Thats the problem now a days w these news outlets, thye have the power to spread things that are not true and get away w it, at the same time the company they accused suffered....
    whats wrong w that picture eh??
    It is something that we as a nation have to address.   During the election I saw some really hedious advertisements trying  to drive the narrative against Trump and nobody did a thing.   We are talking out right fabrications and lies.  

    Frankly the the biggest threat to our nation right now is the unethical behavior of the media outlets.   
  • Reply 17 of 20
    KeyKey Posts: 2member
    tzeshan said:
    What is the market share of iphone in Egypt? I guess in the single digits. So Egyptian government is accusing Apple not trying to be more competitive? I got it!
    It's the other way round. The ECA has given a 60 day notice to Apple for their actions of blocking each and every Apple distributor in Egypt but theirs into selling Apple products at way above MSRP cost to anyone that resides in that gorgeous African nation. As always the ECA had put their foot down by providing them with an ultimatum. What's the market share there? Well you do the math. There are 100 million Egyptians living there. 
  • Reply 18 of 20
    KeyKey Posts: 2member
    grifmx said:
    so if they pull iPhone from there, the prices will REALLY skyrocket. and demand will be greater. just start pulling Apple from countries until the people change the government. easy - just need patience.
    Slow down there, you're way out of line. It's like saying pull iPhone from Canada and see how many Canadians flock to the US. The same applies to Egypt they can get it from any neighboring country. Canada's population = 37 million. Egypt's population = 100 million so you may need to think twice regarding market penetration in that African country. 
  • Reply 19 of 20
    MasterOfCommonSenseMasterOfCommonSense Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    The only thing I know about Egypt is we pay for their military, and once (long ago) they had a civilization worth mentioning.

    Ban Apple products in Egypt... no one cares.

    Sounds like a money grab...
    Define "no one"? Because Egypt has 100 million people. The "civilization worth mentioning" is the reason your civilization exists. And not knowing anything about Egypt means your ignorant. Not sure why you're proudly bragging about being ignorant. Oh and one more thing, you don't "pay for our military". Your government gives our military incredible amounts of "military aid" to ensure that our government stays in power and continues to oppress the people to make sure that things like our 2011 revolution for freedom never succeed. I suggest reading books. Sincerely, An Egyptian that cares
  • Reply 20 of 20
    MasterOfCommonSenseMasterOfCommonSense Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    grifmx said:
    so if they pull iPhone from there, the prices will REALLY skyrocket. and demand will be greater. just start pulling Apple from countries until the people change the government. easy - just need patience.
    This one made me LAUGH! Until the people change the governments? Are you not aware of the Arab Spring? Perhaps you missed the part where literally all the people of the Arab world took to the streets for change, only to have the west either prevent change from happening or re-instil dictatorships around the region. You guys need to leave planet America sometimes and read about the rest of the world. 
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