Qualcomm and Apple signed a millionaire illegal contract

[G.O.G]

Apple does not win for controversy with the authorities. Lately, the US company has had to face the FBI, the European Union and now the FTC, the US Federal Trade Commission. Apple and Qualcomm are accused of having signed an illegal contract to avoid competition in exchange for billions.

The beneficiary directly by the deal in economic terms would be Apple. In exchange for including Qualcomm modems on the iPhone and iPad, the mobile component maker would have paid billions in rebates. In this way, Apple could have got rid of paying in exchange for access to the licenses and intellectual property of them.

Qualcomm manufactures most of the mobile modems that enable full speed LTE 4G connectivity. His are the most advanced and fastest in the world, and therefore other firms like Mediatek pay to access their technology. The same will happen in the future with the 5G, and is that everything indicates that they will get back with a good part of the licenses.

Free competition between mobile modem makers would have been limited, and according to the FTC there was an abuse of dominant position to prevent other manufacturers from reaching an agreement to provide parts for the iPhone

The document published by the Commission clearly establishes the modus operandi of its agreement and denounces it. If he had leaned over Mediatek, the iPhone maker would have had to pay more money for each modem by having to cover the cost of their intellectual property, held by Qualcomm. Not doing so, he only had to pay for the pieces.

The deal was applied in the years 2007, 2011 and 2013, affecting several of the most successful products on the market, especially some of the iPhone models that are among the best selling mobile phones in history. Also the first iPad.

Knowing this circumstance, the deal was easy for both companies. Being present in one of the best-selling smartphones in the world is a very bulky and stable revenue route. Qualcomm, as a clear dominator of the mobile connectivity sector, can afford to pull the prices of its products taking advantage of rivals need their technology.

It is not the first time Apple has encountered a complaint of these dimensions, and surely it will not be the last either. In a business that seems to be concentrating more and more on a few technology companies, complaints of limitation of competition threaten to become more and more commonplace.

Google is another of the signatures that is in the sights of the authorities, although at the moment no legal action has been taken against it.