Categories: MacMobilityWorkspace

Apple Stung By Mammoth Fine From Italian Watchdog

Apple has been slapped with an eye watering €900,000 (£750,000) fine by an Italian watchdog, which accused the iPad maker of misleading consumers over product guarantees.

The Italian Antitrust Authority said in a press release that the fines resulted from “Apple’s unfair business practices against consumers”.

Product Guarantees

The Antitrust Authority blamed Apple, Apple Sales International, and Apple Retail Italy for the implementation of what it deemed to be two “distinct practices of unfair trade”.

The first problem area concerned Apple’s point of sales (both the Apple Stores and its online apple.com retail presence) for failing to adequately inform consumers of their right to two years free technical support as provided by Italy’s Consumer Code. Apple apparently only offered its one-year standard warranty.

The second issue with Apple concerned its support plan, known as the Applecare Protection Plan. The Antitrust Authority felt that the company’s lack of information about the two-year guarantee, led many customers to pay extra for Apple’s support services.

The watchdog consequently decided to issue a stiff financial penalty of €900,000. It broke this down, saying €400,000 (£333,000) was due to Apple’s failure to recognise the length of the statutory guarantee as set out in Italy’s consumer code. The remaining €500,000 (£417,000) penalty was imposed because of the Applecare Protection Plan.

The watchdog also warned that Apple has to publish an extract from its ruling on its Website. It must also add details of Italy’s two-year guarantee to its Applecare plan within 90 days.

Legal Battles

Although it is likely to appeal, Apple has yet to respond to the issue of the fine, but will have no problem paying it. The company is in the enviable position of having at least $81 billion (£52bn) in cash sitting in the bank, thanks to its sales successes over the past decadewith its iPod, iPhone, and iPads.

Of late, Apple’s sales success has been attracting more and more probes by industry regulators and watchdogs. For example the EC has recently launched a probe to investigate whether Apple, along with five international publishers, have struck deals to fix the prices of e-books in Europe.

The company has also been waging a legal patent campaign against its competitors, most notably Samsung. So far, Apple has enjoyed considerable success against Samsung in many countries, although it has also had a number of setbacks.

Tom Jowitt

Tom Jowitt is a leading British tech freelancer and long standing contributor to Silicon UK. He is also a bit of a Lord of the Rings nut...

View Comments

  • when I read the headline 'mammoth' I figured hundreds of millions, or even millions. But no it's not even a million. I guess to the author, it would be a mammoth fine, when they are more accustomed to parking fines etc....

    • Would largely agree with your comment, Robbo - the headline is pretty misleading. Apple's legal costs in appealing the fine would probably not be much less than the fine itself (and would almost certainly be more by the amount of any reduction secured), but no doubt the appeal is being pursued as a matter of principle.

  • It is not the amount of the fine that is the problem. It is the ignominy of being caught out in a sharp practice.

    Apple need to get bigger boots!

  • I was supposed to be going for a job interview with techweekeurope next Tuesday. The salary was described as "substantial" - I suppose I'll be living in a tent.

    • You are all hired for our humour section.

      The salary will be astronomical.

      (Seriously, thank you. We have toned down our adjectives since this story)

      Peter Judge

Recent Posts

Ericsson To Cut 1,200 Jobs in Sweden Amid ‘Challenging’ Market

Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson blamed “challenging mobile networks market” and “further volume contraction” for job…

19 hours ago

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For $8bn Fraud

Dramatic downfall. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for masterminding $8bn fraud that…

20 hours ago

Elon Musk Orders FSD Demo For Every Tesla US Sale

Fallout avoidance? Tesla buyers in the US must be shown how to use the FSD…

21 hours ago

Amazon Pumps Another $2.75 Billion Into Anthropic

Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…

23 hours ago

The Sustainability of AI

While AI promises unparalleled efficiency, productivity, and innovation, questions regarding its environmental impact loom large.…

1 day ago