Apple, which surpassed hundreds of billions of billions of dollars in advertising and repair fees to domestic mobile carriers, avoided legal sanctions. He decided to fix the unfair contract with the mobile operator and discount the iPhone repair fee by 10%.
FTC concludes the case on self-reliance
“Create a 100 billion-degree consumer win-win fund”
The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 3rd that it had finalized the resolution of Apple Korea’s consent. The consent resolution is a system in which a business operator who is deliberated by the FTC proposes and implements a remedy for the victims themselves. If the FTC and the interested parties recognize that the voluntary correction plan is valid, the case will be closed without questioning whether the law is violated. Legal sanctions such as fines and prosecution charges can be avoided.
First, Apple decided to transparently disclose the process of negotiating and executing the advertising fund established with mobile operators to advertise Apple products. The contents in which the mobile operator is responsible for the warranty repair cost are deleted. The minimum subsidy level for mobile carriers that Apple was involved in could also be adjusted to account for the discount on telecom rates. In addition, it spends 25 billion won on a 10% discount and refund for iPhone users’ paid repair costs and Apple Care Plus service costs, Apple’s after-sale support (AS) insurance program. The FTC explained, “We estimate that the benefits of 20,000 to 30,000 won per consumer will be returned.” Including this, Apple decided to create a fund of 100 billion won to support domestic consumers and small businesses.
In this regard, Song Sang-min, head of the Fair Trade Commission’s Market Supervisory Commission, pointed out that Apple could increase the consumer burden by raising repair costs in the future. In addition, he pointed out that a discount on repair costs can be a marketing tool for Apple.
Sejong = Reporter Seongbin Lim [email protected]