Canada’s Competition Bureau is digging deeper in its investigation of Apple over alleged anti-competition business practices in the country.
The investigation started at the end of last year right around the time that a former supply manager was sent to prison over his having leaked sensitive business information to organizations in Asia bidding for contracts. While the Competition Bureau had insisted at the time that there wasn’t any evidence of wrongdoing on Apple’s part, it proceeded to demand that Apple hand over documents relevant to the investigation.
Apple complied, giving the agency 46,000 apparently relevant files. They evidently weren’t enough, as now the Competition Bureau has asked the Federal Court to compel telecom providers to provide their own data on iPhone sales – which the Court has now ordered. Those providers include the country’s major oligopoly – Bell and Rogers – as well as smaller providers like Videotron.
What the Competition Bureau is looking for is evidence that Apple pressured the wireless carriers to promote its own products at the expense of others, driving up the prices ultimately paid by consumers. Given that Apple has proven at times heavy-handed in how it deals with partners, and given the huge popularity of its technologically advanced mobile devices, it wouldn’t be a huge shock if such scheming were ultimately found to have taken place – though of course there is no publicly available evidence to that effect at this time.
Source: Toronto Star
Follow Us