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News EC fines Qualcomm £873 million for Apple exclusivity kickbacks

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by bit-tech, 24 Jan 2018.

  1. bit-tech

    bit-tech Supreme Overlord Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    Read more
     
  2. MLyons

    MLyons 70% Dev, 30% Doge. DevDoge. Software Dev @ Corsair Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Surely apple should have some sort of fine for being complicit in it? Or am i missing something here.
     
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    The EC was investigating Qualcomm's abuse of its monopoly position in the baseband processor market, not Apple's receipt of kickbacks which, by the by, are not de facto illegal. Basically, it's not that Qualcomm was giving Apple kickbacks that is the reason it has been fined; it's the fact that Qualcomm is the majority market holder and was using said kickbacks to shut out competition. If Intel, as a much much smaller player in the market, had done exactly the same thing as Qualcomm the EC's Competition arm wouldn't have batted an eye.
     
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  4. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    ^^That^^ lends credence to the idiom that the law is an ass IMO. :)
     
  5. blackerthanblack

    blackerthanblack Minimodder

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    Hang on, let me get this right...
    Apple accepted the promise of kickbacks for going single source, so would have known about the legality (or not). They then got huffy when those kickbacks didn't start filling up their pockets and complained, acting all innocent?
     
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  6. fix-the-spade

    fix-the-spade Multimodder

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    I'm sure the irony of going to tthe authorities because someone never paid the bribes you accepted is lost on Apple. It's probably not lost on the ghost of Steve Jobs though, he loved that kind of thing.
     
  7. Omnislip

    Omnislip Minimodder

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    I'm not sure about this: it's pretty obvious that governments need to treat companies that are extremely dominant in their market differently to those that are not.
     
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