Apple and Amazon fined over Beats headphones

By Ahmad Alsayouf, Staff Reporter, The Pawprint

Yesterday, Italy’s official competition authorities fined Amazon and Apple for about €200 million. The fine was regarding Apple’s Beats headphones, which they bought for about $3 billion in 2014. An agreement between the two companies made it so it could sell official Beats products on Amazon Italy. Apple and Amazon stated they would be taking legal appeals regarding the fines.

Apple stated that it has “done nothing wrong” but respected Italy’s decision. Italy’s watchdog stated that both tech giants violated rules of the EU (European Union) and changed competition according to the pricing of headphones. Apple’s spokesperson stated that “Non-genuine products deliver and inferior experience and can often be dangerous”. Amazon stated that it strongly disagreed with the Italian authorities’ decision and that its part of the proposed penalties (€69 million) was “disproportionate and unjustified”.