Translated material
FAS will check prices for iPhone 8
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has received complaints about prices for the iPhone 8 in Russia and will conduct a review of pricing for new Apple smartphones, RIA Novosti reports.
“There are complaints, an investigation will be carried out on this matter. Whether a new case can be opened is too early to say,” said a representative of the FAS press service.
As Kommersant reminds, sales of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus began in Russia on September 29. Currently, prices for iPhone 8 and 8 Plus in versions with 64 GB of memory in the Apple online store are 56,990 rubles and 64,990 rubles, respectively. Similar prices for such devices are listed in the re:Store online store. In the MTS online store, the price for the iPhone 8 64 GB Gold is 56,890 rubles, and the iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB Gold costs 64,890 rubles, which coincides with the prices indicated in the VimpelCom online store.
According to the CEO of Inventive Retail Group (manages re:Store) Tikhon Smykov, the retailer has not received any complaints from citizens regarding the prices of the iPhone 8, as well as relevant requests from the FAS. At the same time, the department previously sent requests to the company about prices for the sixth and seventh generation iPhones during inspections last year.
Let us remind you that the case is against the companies Apple Rus LLC, Apple Holding BV, Apple Sales Ireland, Apple Operations International and Apple Inc. was initiated on August 8 last year under Part 5 of Article 11 of the Law on Protection of Competition, which prohibits coordination of economic activities of business entities. The basis for the antimonopoly investigation was a citizen’s appeal with information about the establishment of identical prices for the Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models by sixteen major resellers, including MTS, M.Video, Beeline, Eldorado, Euroset, OZON , Re:Store, Svyaznoy, MegaFon and a number of others.
As the FAS investigation showed, since the beginning of official sales of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus smartphones in Russia, most retailers set the same prices for them, which were maintained for a certain time. In addition, the FAS established that sellers' prices matched other models of Apple smartphones.
On March 14, 2017, the FAS found Apple's Russian subsidiary, Apple Rus LLC, guilty of violating antimonopoly laws in terms of illegally coordinating prices for iPhones of the fifth and sixth generations. At the same time, the department did not reveal any violations in the area of pricing for iPhone 7 smartphones, of which Apple was suspected in the fall of 2016, and the case against other companies (Apple Holding BV, Apple Sales Ireland, Apple Operations International, Apple Inc.) was dropped.
The FAS also noted that global Apple worked closely with the department, providing the necessary materials, and already during the consideration of the case, it took actions aimed at eliminating coordination of prices for the iPhone. As a result, the FAS fined the Russian subsidiary of Apple 1.75 million rubles.
On September 20, the head of the FAS, Igor Artemyev, said that Apple faces more serious punishment if the agency again discovers price coordination in Russia.
“We have already dealt with this kind of stories, so if necessary, we will deal with another one. But everyone must understand that the first time we give a warning, the second time we start to swear heavily, but the third time everything will be to the maximum,” - said Artemyev, clarifying that one should not immediately blame Apple for everything, because retailers can also agree on prices.