Apple and Amazon have been fined a combined 194.1 million euros ($218.03 million) in Spain over claims that the two colluded to limit the availability of devices sold online in the country.
The two companies signed a contract in October of 2018 that would make Amazon an authorized Apple dealer but that deal included clauses that went on to affect other companies selling Apple devices via Amazon's marketplace.
Both Apple and Amazon say that they intend to appeal the fine, with Apple stuck with the majority — a whopping 143.6 million euros or $161.3 million.
Collusion with Amazon
Reuters reports that "more than 90% of the existing retailers who were using Amazon's marketplace to sell Apple devices were blocked as a result" of the deal signed between the two companies. "Amazon also reduced the capacity of retailers in the European Union based outside Spain to access Spanish customers, and restricted the advertising Apple's competitors were allowed to place on its website when users searched for Apple products," Spanish antitrust watchdog CNMC said.
Countering the claim, Amazon says that Apple device buyers actually came out the winners here, claiming that "the number of discounts on iPads and iPhones increased."
Apple said that the agreement with Amazon was supposed to help prevent the number of fake devices being sold, ensuring that fewer devices that were delivered to customers turned out to be counterfeit. Apple was reportedly spending time and money sending hundreds of thousands of take-down notices to try and stop those devices from being sold.
However, the CNMC says that the deal actually resulted in the price of Apple devices being sold in Spain increasing. That means that anyone buying Apple's best iPhones or Macs could wind up paying more than if they'd been allowed to buy using a third party.
With Amazon and Apple set to appeal this is unlikely to be the end of this story.
