The European Parliament in a landslide vote on Thursday called on the EU Commission to adopt rules that would establish a common charger standard for mobile devices, guidelines Apple argues would stifle innovation and create waste.
Apple has hit back at new proposals by European lawmakers to force smartphone and other device producers to use a universal standard charger, claiming attempts to make it switch from Lightning to another type of connection could cause consumer aggravation and stifle innovation.
Changes need to be made to corporate tax systems around the world to make it fairer, Apple CEO Tim Cook urged while backing calls for a global reform of rules dictating how multinational companies pay taxes on profits.
The European Union needs to take action against "patent trolls," Apple has urged as part of a group of tech companies and car manufacturers, with the growth of non-practicing entities stifling innovation in firms who try to exploit the entire patent system for financial gain.
Apple and a coalition of tech and automotive companies in a letter to the European Commission this week said patent licensing abuses are stifling innovation of self-driving cars and other connected devices.
The European Commission's antitrust head, Margrethe Vestager, fined Apple billions, and plans tighter tech regulation as she takes up a second five-year term.
Apple Pay's introduction into the payments market has led to multiple "expressions of concern," the EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has revealed, with comments about Apple's mobile payments service potentially leading the European Commission to take a closer look at how competition in the market is affected by its presence.
Apple continues to argue its appeal against the European Commission's $14.4 billion tax ruling, saying that the order was based on the erroneous idea that Ireland is key to Apple's strategic planning.
Apple has begun its appeal against the European Union's ruling that required it to pay Ireland $14.4 billion in back taxes, saying the EU order was flawed.
Apple is due to head to the European Union General Court over its tax affairs this week, with the iPhone maker set to commence arguments on Tuesday to reverse a ruling by the European Commission that caused it to pay Ireland 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in back taxes.
The battle between Apple and the European Commission over the iPhone maker's tax affairs with Ireland will be heading to court in September, with the legal challenge set to determine whether Apple will be paid back any of its 13 billion ($14.4 billion) back tax payment.
Already coping with a $1.1 billion ruling from 2018, Apple modem supplier Qualcomm is reportedly facing a second fine from the European Commission — this time over its price war with Icera, later absorbed into Nvidia.
Ireland's investment of escrowed back taxes paid by Apple on the orders of the European Commission are not performing as well as they could be, with a report claiming the fund declined in value by 16 million euros last year.
As a way of keeping up value pending appeals, the Irish government has reportedly invested the back taxes the European Commission ordered it to collect from Apple into low-risk securities.
Qualcomm may have to pay a second big fine to the European Union over antitrust concerns for how it handled sales of 3G chips for mobile hotspot and dongles, just over a year after the chip maker was issued a $1.23 billion financial penalty for illegally shutting out modem rivals from supplying Apple.
Data supplied by Apple says that only 680,000 of Spotify's users are paying 15% of the subscription fee to Apple — and none are paying the 30% that the music streamer claims.
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager has asked Apple some questions, and is waiting to hear back before a decision is made about the investigation of Spotify's antitrust complaints in the EU.
Qualcomm on Tuesday lost a court challenge against a European Commission request, which sought more data in its antitrust investigation of chip deals with companies like Apple.
The European Commission has fined Google $1.7 billion for illegally favoring its own AdSense in search advertising, bringing the company's total fines for anticompetitive behavior so far in the region to $9.42 billion.
Spotify described Apple as a "monopolist" late Friday, dissecting the latter's reaction to a competition complaint Spotify submitted to the European Commission.
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Mikey Campbell
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Roger Fingas
Mike Wuerthele
