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Qualcomm Gets $1.2 Billion EU Fine for Apple Chip Payments
Qualcomm Inc. was fined 997 million euros ($1.2 billion) by the European Union for paying Apple Inc. to shun rival chips in its iPhones.
The largest maker of chips that help run smartphones "paid billions of U.S. dollars to a key customer, Apple, so that it would not buy from rivals," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. "This meant that no rival could effectively challenge Qualcomm in this market, no matter how good their products were."
Qualcomm struck a deal with Apple in 2011 that pledged significant payments if Apple only used Qualcomm chipsets for the iPhone and iPad devices. That agreement was renewed in 2013 until 2016. Qualcomm warned it would stop these payments if Apple sold another product with a rival chip. This effectively shut out competitors such as Intel Corp. from the market for LTE baseband chipsets used in the 4G mobile phone standard for five years, the EU said.
European Commission press release. Also at Reuters.
Previously: EU Investigates Qualcomm For Antitrust Activities
U.S. Federal Trade Commission Sues Qualcomm for Anti-Competitive Practices
Apple Could Switch From Qualcomm to Intel and MediaTek for Modems
Related: Apple vs. Qualcomm Escalates, Manufacturers Join in, Lawsuits Filed in California and Germany
Qualcomm Files New Lawsuit Against Apple, Alleging it Shared Confidential Information with Intel
Broadcom Offers $105 Billion for Qualcomm; Moves HQ Back to the USA
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24 2018, @08:08PM
How is it any different from Amazon not selling Chromecasts?
How is it any different from Big Green Egg only distributing sellers who don't sell other Kamado style grills?
How is it any different from my insurance company only letting me see certain doctors?
There is no difference, Microsoft shouldn't have been fined back then either. Anti-trust laws have always been selectively enforced (spoiler: like every other law) when convenient, and the handful of times they've been levied against actual monopolies, those monopolies would be much easier broken by removing the government regulations (intellectual property law, legal barriers to entry for smaller competitors) that enabled the monopoly to form in the first place.