France has been investigating for months with Apple the penalty Comertino company has just paid, no less than 1,100 million euros. According to French authorities: "Apple found illegal deals within its distribution network and violated the "financial trust" of private distributors"
This is the largest fine (1,100,000,000 euros) imposed by the French competition authorities after years of investigation. But neither is it the end, since a few Apple partners have received two other small penalties at illegal retail prices.
Two of Apple's merchants are fined for willing prices: Tech and Ingram Micro data fined 76.1 million euros and 62.9 million euros respectively. French authorities have indicated that the fine was available the largest it has ever been in its history
"Disappointing decision"
The charge against Apple and its French affiliates was recently disclosed by Isabelle de Silva, President of the French Competition Tribunal, in a statement. The $ 1.1 billion fine is the largest ever set ever again Apple didn't like the decision at all.
"Apple and its suppliers have both agreed that they will not compete and prevent distributors from competing, which creates further market interest for Apple products."
As reported by Apple on CNBC, this decision was made by the French authorities "awesome" and the company has indicated that it intends to appeal this decision to the relevant courts.
"The decision of the French Competition Parliament is disappointing. It joins the practices of over a decade ago and marks the 30th anniversary of legal appointments in which all companies in France rely on an order that will create chaos for companies across the industry. We totally oppose and plan to appeal."
This is the second French release to Apple so far this year. In February, Apple received a fine of 25 million euros by slowing down the iPhones to avoid battery degradation, which French authorities interpret as kind of "forced obsolescence", mainly due to Apple's poor communication, which didn't inform users of these developments.
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It's never been a good time to accept such sanctions, but maybe less now. Apple recently closed all its stores in the world except Chinese because of the coronavirus too sales and revenues will decline dramatically this quarter
Still, Apple is willing to do it fight in court Given what they think is the wrong decision. We'll see how the rest of the story ends and if Apple can reach an agreement, something has happened in some cases.