Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), was found guilty by the Japanese authorities for forcing the operators to sell the phones iPhone at deceptive prices in order to increase sales, violating the country's legislation. Despite this, the Japanese authorities will not in any way sanction the Apple company for this tactic, so the Americans have nothing to learn from here and will repeat the "figure".
Apple forced mobile phone operators in Japan to sell iPhones at subsidized prices that were lower than those of competing phones, with higher monthly subscriptions. Apple practically forced telecom operators to create the false impression that iPhone phones are cheaper than those of the competition, although in reality the situation was different.
Apple: How it FORCED Telecom Operators to CHEATE Customers with the Price of the iPhone
The Japanese needed 2 years to reach this conclusion, the investigated operators being NTT Docomo, KDDI and Softbank, but the tactic is also used in other countries around the world. The tactic imposed by the Apple company prevented the operators from selling iPhone phones at lower monthly subscriptions, affecting the competition in the smartphone area.
"The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said that the Japanese unit of Apple had forced NTT Docomo, KDDI and SoftBank to offer subsidies and sell iPhones at a discount. Obliging carriers to offer subsidies (for iPhones) could have prevented the carriers from offering lower monthly charges and restricted competition.”
Faced with these revelations, the Apple company agreed to give up these anti-competitive practices, and now it will have to renegotiate the contracts with the telecom operators. Customers will have the option to buy the iPhone at full price, or at a higher price with lower subscriptions, but it remains to be seen if this change will also apply in other countries.
