Apple accused by Egypt of violating competition laws

“Egypt, where an iPhone can cost 50 percent more than elsewhere in the Middle East, has given Apple Inc. two months to end what it claims are unfair restrictions on local distributors — or face legal action,” Tarek El-Tablawy reports for Bloomberg.
“The move against the Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker and its regional distributor comes just days after the Egyptian Competition Authority claimed they were violating local law by concluding exclusive distribution agreements,” El-Tablawy reports. “The authority said that while companies had a right to specify sales areas, local retailers were barred from buying from other distributors, which blocked competition. It voided clauses in the contracts that it said ran counter to competition legislation in the country.”
“An iPhone Xs Max with 512 gigabytes storage, for example, costs the equivalent of $1,306 in the U.A.E., while the same phone is listed for the equivalent of $1,983 in Egypt through an authorized Apple reseller,” El-Tablawy reports. “The decree published in the Official Gazette threatened legal action against Apple and its agent in the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates-based Arab Business Machine. ”
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MacDailyNews Take: It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next 60 days.
We follow the law wherever do we business. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, August 1, 2017