LeoMC

avon b7 said:

Because when you have an iPhone you cannot use other 'stores'. Your only option is the App Store and Apple vets everything on it (restricting choice) and takes a cut from developers' business.

Some feel that constitutes a monopoly and the EU is already in the early stages of collecting information.

The only items that you will find on the Carrefour Marketplace that aren't available on other stores are those that are Carrefour's own label products. Everything else is available elsewhere. 

Apple doesn't operate the same way.

Of course I can: there are millions of PWAs I can use without even opening the App Store.
Every company have "monopolies" on their products; some more, others less, but they all have monopolies.
In order to buy from Carrefour, one needs to go into its buildings; the iPhone is the building that allows you to get to the merchandise found in the store.
You can get pretty much every single App Store app from another app store, you just have to change the "access pass" - which is the iPhone - with another "access pass".

gatorguy said:

LeoMC said:

gatorguy said:

Apple still wanted to control the price after the sale and down the entire supply line from wholesalers to dealers to the local store shelves. Not simply the common "lowest advertised price" but a contractual hard price. That's what the competition authorities have an issue with.

That is a perfectly legal practice all over the EU, France included.

[1] You are misunderstanding or misreading something since [2] legal experts in the respective government agencies disagree with you to the tune of over a $B. Obviously the legality is not as cut and dried as you assume. FWIW this case began back in 2012 when an [3] Apple licensed retailer complained that Apple was abusing its dominant position to favor its own Apple Stores.

[4] Apple is currently deemed guilty of illegal restraint of competition and will appeal.

[5] Eventually it will all get sorted.

1. Maybe I am; because it is of little interest to me, the only info I have on this case is this article; if the article is bad written, I may misunderstand things.

2. Legal experts from a certain European country said that a certain population can be spat on and its members imprisoned and killed; experts from an American country said it's legal to abuse the rights of a certain ethnic part of its population, to abuse the rights of citizens that have a certain political believe, to abuse the rights of some prisoners etc. The fact that some lawyers from a government agency have an opinion, doesn't mean that the measure is legal.

3. A complaint is just a complaint.

4. Apple received a fine, but that doesn't prove it is neither guilty nor innocent; the only one that can clearly state that is a court of law.

5. Agree.

spice-boy said:

CloudTalkin said:

Price fixing?  That's kind of out of left field imo.  I thought they were concentrating on the App Store.  

nobody get's into its walled off domain without paying at least a 30% entrance tax. That's what a monopoly does.

Carrefour - a french company - takes a commission for every single sale made through their marketplace which, for some products, is higher than 30%. Why do you think Apple is bad for doing the exact same thing?

gatorguy said:

Apple still wanted to control the price after the sale and down the entire supply line from wholesalers to dealers to the local store shelves. Not simply the common "lowest advertised price" but a contractual hard price. That's what the competition authorities have an issue with.

That is a perfectly legal practice all over the EU, France included.

There is no way that this decision stands in a EU or arbitrary court. ”Cartel" means 2 or more independent competitors who work together toward an illegitimate purpose (like price fixing). Here we have Apple - a manufacturer (which also has a distribution network) and 2 resellers of Apple products; first of all, Apple products have but a small share of telecommunication devices market; second, Apple is free to sell an iPhone for €1k as well as €100k; third, as long as Apple and its 2 resellers have not conspired to fix prices for products other than Apple's, the level of the price for one brand is not ”price fixing"; and fourth, go into several supermarkets and retail stores in EU and you'll find the same products, being sold at the same price - called "recommended retail price" (SRP/RRP or MSRP for US users).

gilly33 said:

And you know this how?

By being smart and knowing where to look for facts.