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Monday, 10 December 2018

Is the ECA really going after Apple?

The competition authority is going after Apple. Yes, Apple the iPhone maker. The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) accused iPhone maker Apple and some of its distributors of having violated antitrust regulations and ordered them to amend their contracts in a statement on Sunday (pdf). The competition watchdog alleges that Apple barring its regional distributors from selling to its Egyptian distributors has limited “intra-brand competition,” which the ECA takes as seriously as competition among rival companies, ECA head Emir Nabil said. Apple now joins Careem and Uber as the most high-profile international company to become the target of an ECA probe.

The allegations: After looking into its contracts and sales strategy, an ECA probe alleges that Apple barred its regional distributors from marketing and selling their Apple products to Egypt-based distributors, the statement says. It also claims investigators found evidence that Apple barred its Egyptian distributors from soliciting orders from regional distributors. Apple’s alleged actions have caused the prices of its products in Egypt to rise more than those sold in comparable regional market and “has harmed the Egyptian consumer by denying them their right to a cheaper version of their product,” Nabil said.

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