AppleInsider Staff
The Federal Court of Canada on Wednesday said it will order Apple to release documents to the country's Competition Bureau as part of an ongoing investigation into possible anticompetitive practices regarding iPhone partner carrier contracts.
According to Reuters, Chief Justice Paul Crampton agreed to sign an order compelling Apple's Canadian subsidiary to hand over documents pertinent to the investigation, including contracts with cellular providers.
The probe, announced last week by Canada's Competition Bureau, is an attempt to assess whether Apple illegally leveraged the iPhone's substantial market sway to force wireless carriers into raising service prices for competing handsets. Alternatively, Apple may have inked agreements that dissuaded partners from lowering prices of other smartphones.
In the U.S. and beyond, Apple is known to wield the iPhone as a considerable bargaining chip in landing favorable deals with providers eager to sell the popular device. Last year, the European Commission scrutinized Apple's iPhone sales strategies after receiving complaints from mobile operators.
Derek Leschinsky, a lawyer with the bureau, said California-based Apple is considering a constitutional challenge of the order to compel production of sensitive business documents through its wholly owned foreign subsidiary.
Apple has 90 days to hand over the documents, or in lieu of such action, lodge a challenge with Canada's federal court system. As noted by Leschinsky, however, no party has been successful in arguing the Competition Act as unconstitutional.
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34 Comments
Why don't they investigate the carriers to determine why the country has some of the highest rates for mobile plans anywhere? The handsets are a bargain comparatively. I've never seen so many "free" phones offered with a contract.
I don't really follow what's at issue here. Why would Apple be remotely interested in increasing the ASP (and hence, profits) of the likes of Samsung? I've never heard of something so silly as being part of Apple's strategy anywhere, at anytime. Perhaps someone can explain what's really going on here in plain English?
[quote name="anantksundaram" url="/t/183969/canada-court-orders-apple-divulge-documents-in-iphone-anti-competition-probe#post_2652883"]I don't really follow what's at issue here. Why would Apple be remotely interested in increasing ASP (and hence, profits) of the likes of Samsung? I've never heard of something so silly as being part of Apple's strategy anywhere, at anytime. Perhaps someone can explain what's really going on here in plain English?[/quote] If you offer a product that is more expensive than anyone else you will inevitably lose some sales but if you can drive everyone's price to your level rather than move to there level. You win. You get the same profits and people are more likely to buy your product or something like that.
[quote name="singularity" url="/t/183969/canada-court-orders-apple-divulge-documents-in-iphone-anti-competition-probe#post_2652884"][quote name="anantksundaram" url="/t/183969/canada-court-orders-apple-divulge-documents-in-iphone-anti-competition-probe#post_2652883"]I don't really follow what's at issue here. Why would Apple be remotely interested in increasing ASP (and hence, profits) of the likes of Samsung? I've never heard of something so silly as being part of Apple's strategy anywhere, at anytime. Perhaps someone can explain what's really going on here in plain English?[/quote] If you offer a product that is more expensive than anyone else you will inevitably lose some sales but if you can drive everyone's price to your level rather than move to there level. You win. You get the same profits and people are more likely to buy your product or something like that.[/quote] That's obvious. As I said, I find it to be totally implausible. In nearly four decades of existence, Apple has done the exact opposite with every one of its products, starting with PCs.
Keep in mind, Canada's Competition Bureau is a law enforcement agency that operates and makes all decisions independently from the Canadian Government. Anyone can lodge a request to investigate anti-competitive practices thereby the Competition Bureau decides if it is reasonable to proceed with an investigation.