Apple Faces UK 'iCloud Monopoly' Compensation Claim Worth $3.8 Billion (techcrunch.com)
- Reference: 0175467899
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/11/14/0555231/apple-faces-uk-icloud-monopoly-compensation-claim-worth-38-billion
- Source link: https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/13/apple-faces-uk-icloud-monopoly-compensation-claim-worth-3-8-billion/
> U.K. consumer rights group 'Which?' is filing a legal claim against Apple under competition law on behalf of some 40 million users of iCloud, its cloud storage service. The [1]collective proceeding lawsuit , which is seeking 3 billion pounds in compensation damages (around $3.8 billion at current exchange rates), alleges that Apple has broken competition rules by giving its own cloud storage service preferential treatment and [2]effectively locking people into paying for iCloud at "rip-off" prices . "iOS has a monopoly and is in control of Apple's operating systems and it is incumbent on Apple not to use that dominance to gain an unfair advantage in related markets, like the cloud storage market. But that is exactly what has happened," Which wrote in a press release announcing filing the claim with the U.K.'s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).
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> The lawsuit accuses Apple of encouraging users of its devices to sign up to iCloud for photo storage and other data storage needs, while simultaneously making it difficult for consumers to use alternative storage providers -- including by not allowing them to store or back-up all of their phone's data with a third-party provider. "iOS users then have to pay for the service once photos, notes, messages and other data go over the free 5GB limit," Which noted. The suit also accuses Apple of overcharging U.K. consumers for iCloud subscriptions owing to the lack of competition. "Apple raised the price of iCloud for UK consumers by between 20% and 29% across its storage tiers in 2023," it wrote, saying it's seeking damages for all affected Apple customers -- and estimating that individual consumers could be owed an average of 70 pounds (around $90), depending on how long they've been paying Apple for iCloud services.
"Anyone who has 'obtained' iCloud services, including non-paying users, over the nine-year timeframe since the Consumer Rights Act came into force on October 1st, 2015," will be included in the claim. U.K.-based consumers will have to opt-out if they do not want to be included. "Consumers who live outside the U.K. and believe they are eligible to be included must actively opt-in to join the action," adds TechCrunch.
[1] https://www.cloudclaim.co.uk/
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/13/apple-faces-uk-icloud-monopoly-compensation-claim-worth-3-8-billion/
editorial rigor (Score:1)
is it Million or Billions? Make up your minds.
Re: (Score:2)
> is it Million or Billions? Make up your minds.
Billions. The headline is wrong. The body of TFS is correct.
Re: (Score:1)
KiloMillions
I hope this gets traction (Score:2)
I would much rather use Nextcloud for photos and music backup, but currently that is impractical with Apple's restrictions. The iCloud storage prices are abusive.
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$3 per month for 200GB of storage or $10 for 2TB is "abusive?" That's some first world problems you've got there. I've got the 200GB option and it's enough for my phone and ipad, and both kids ipads.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, it's absolute bullshit. I've got some 24 TB storage on my home NextCloud instance. Only cost after the initial hardware purchase is the electricity to keep it running and my time to keep updates installed. $120/year for 2TB _is_ abusive.
Re: (Score:2)
A 2TB HDD is what, [1]$59.00 now [amazon.com]? Yes, that's a usurious scam. In a muslim country you could be put to death for this.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-Internal-Drive-3-5-Inch/dp/B07H2RR55Q
Re: (Score:2)
"In a muslim country you could be put to death for this."
That's a new one, I think I just got a glimpse of a weird future.
This is Ridiclous (Score:1)
You can backup your iOS device to any PC or Mac, which can then utilize Backblaze, Google Drive or whatever cloud thingy you want to use.
[1]https://support.apple.com/en-u... [apple.com]
Sounds like the people bringing this suit are wanna be software architects with little imagination.
[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/108771
Re: (Score:2)
Not everyone owns a computer or needs a computer. There is even a small percentage of people who run OS's that are not Windows or Mac. For posting on Slashdot one would assume you would have heard of Linux.
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According to apple, an iPad is a computer, yet you can't use a iPad to backup and restore an iPhone.
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Are you seriously suggesting that having to manually connect your iPhone and run a backup, and then backup the backup, is not going to drive people to use iCloud where it all happens automatically, continually, on the device itself?
And that assumes you even have a computer, of course. And that it runs MacOS or Windows.
It will be interesting to see if Apple tries the "you can do it, it's just a really shitty experience that you will probably forget to do until it's too late" defence.
Re: (Score:2)
> You can backup your iOS device to any PC or Mac, which can then utilize Backblaze, Google Drive or whatever cloud thingy you want to use.
Why the hell should you have to do that? Why can't you just use Backblaze, Google Drive or whatever cloud thingy directly off the phone? Why does it *have* to be icloud?
Apple are a defacto monopoly*, and as such, have to provide choice. Doing as they do now is market abuse*.
* As defined in Europe. In the US, the 'bar' for such things is much higher as consumer protect
Re: (Score:1)
Thank you for proving the UKs point.
Millions of Billions? (Score:2)
Dr. Evil in unimpressed.
Re:What is wrong with people? (Score:4, Interesting)
So the UK is a country
The UK makes laws
People are upholding those laws
Just don't live in the UK if you don't like the laws there. Apple can choose for themselves if they don't want to do business there.
> Then take advantage of the FREE MARKET system that's supposed to exist. Create a BETTER product that people actually want to use.
All western countries have laws against illegal monopolistic practices. If you don't like that you should make a BETTER country where you want to live.
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Oh you didn't strike me as Irish. You know Apple Europe is based in Ireland right? So they can make sure that no taxes are ever sent to the US?
How's the weather in Ireland these days?
Re: (Score:3)
You are ignoring the tying; which is absolutely corrosive to the "FREE MARKET":
Apple creates a phone that people like. Ok, so far so good. Innovation and polish rewarded, free market in action, hooray.
Apple sets up a cloud storage offering that is deeply undistinguished and not particularly well priced. Ok, nobody requires you to make actually-good products, market will sort it out, whatever.
Apple gives their own, and only their own, there is no standard a 3rd party can meet and no configuration a
Re: (Score:2)
> Then take advantage of the FREE MARKET system that's supposed to exist.
Free markets are a myth, in that a perfect one has never existed. The closest you get is when you have a regulated market where people are not allowed to take advantage of their market position to dissuade competition, because only competition lowers prices.
You are complaining that the EU is trying to create the thing you are asking for.
Google does the same (Score:2)
My Android phone constantly nags me to turn on backup (cloud) transfers so that I can rack up storage bills with them. I'm happy just transferring anything I want to keep via a USB cable to my laptop which I then backup to an external drive periodically. That's good enough for anything on my phone. Stop nagging me, Google!
Pricing (Score:1)
[1]https://support.apple.com/en-u... [apple.com]
I pay 99 cents a month for 50GB of iCloud. Backblaze charges $99/year for unlimited storage. ($8.25/month). For $10/month Apple will give me 2TB which is effectively unlimited for pretty much everyone at a similar price and it's integrated.
I understand the complaint about special Apple only APIs and such but the pricing doesn't seem outrageous for most people who don't need unlimited storage. According to the Apple price chart, UK pays about the same as the US differing
[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/108047
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2 TB is nothing close to unlimited for "most people". Let alone most families sharing the iCloud system. High resolution photos and 4k videos take up a lot of space. That is only going to increase with increased adoption of depth of field videos and photos. About every 12-18 months I offload thousands of pictures and hundreds of video to an external hard drive, well two HDs so I have backup of the back up, to free up space on the iCloud account. That is only for my wife and me, we haven't even gotten our ki
iCloud, OneDrive (Score:2)
Really, I never wanted iCloud or OneDrive, they just sort of showed up one day with free storage that stole my private data "for free" iCloud in particular is pretty bad as it takes your photos, which are obviously as large as the local iphone storage, but then nags you endlessly because, oh no it's full! Pay us $1.00 a month for the amount of storage you can get on an SdCard for $10
I run my own cloud (Score:1)
I run my own cloud and see no reason why I am being stopped from integrating it with Iphone APIs.
Re: (Score:3)
There are two major roadblocks to using an alternative cloud to back up your iPhone.
1. iCloud has access to secret APIs that let it save data that normal apps cannot access, like settings for other apps and the phone itself. It's impossible for other apps to provide a full phone backup that can restore your device.
2. iCloud is excluded from the normal limits on app background activity, so it can easily upload large amounts of data such as when you take a load of photos or a long video. Other apps are aggres