French government takes issue with Apple’s AppGratis removal

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 11, 2013

The AppGratis app curation software is no longer available on the App Store but the controversy is far from being over. After AppGratis CEO Simon Dawalt lambasted Apple on a company blog for kicking his app out of the App Store, a move he called “an absolutely crazy situation to deal with,” a French minister today slagged the iPhone maker over the ouster. Fleur Pellerin, France’s junior minister for digital economy, publicly described Apple’s decision to pull AppGratis as “extremely brutal and unilateral.”

She urged European regulators to “think about legislation” because Apple is not “behaving ethically” in its dealings with small startups like AppGratis… Read More

 

France Telecom CEO: gold rush is over, budget iPhone is inevitable

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 4, 2013

Apple’s rumored less-pricey iPhone has been envisioned over and over again in some damn good renderings. The rumor mills have been churning out their fair share of whispers on a regular basis and both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have thrown their credibility behind the meme. But despite all this crazy talk and tremendous speculation, Apple is seemingly unimpressed as the company’s marketing honcho kinda shot down the rumor, recently telling the press his company isn’t one to blindly pursue market share.

Be that as it may, analysts warn there’s only that much room to grow in the saturated high-end smartphone market. Therefore, conventional wisdom has it, Apple’s going to need a more affordable device sooner than later. This has now become a sentiment shared by one wireless carrier CEO who cautions of changing consumer behavior as a lot of folks are now unwilling to pay north of $600 for an unlocked smartphone… Read More

 

Bureaucracy preventing French from getting LTE on their iDevices until year’s end

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 4, 2013

Owners of LTE-enabled Apple devices in France won’t get to enjoy the benefits of speedy cellular downloads before the end of 2013 amid lobbying between the country’s wireless carriers and the agency for telecommunications ARCEP.

The country’s local carriers like Orange and SFR last year spent to the tune of €1.2 billion, or approximately $1.6 billion, to acquire the 800MHz band.

The problem is, this radio frequency is supported neither by the iPhone 5 nor by many mobile devices from other vendors, including Samsung. Moreover, these carriers are now asking the ARCEP to wait until at least end of 2013 before refarming the 1,800MHz spectrum, which is compatible with Apple’s handset… Read More

 

Apple hit with $29 million Aussie tax bill

By Ed Sutherland on Nov 16, 2012

Not even Apple can avoid taxes – although it tries. According to a Friday report, the Cupertino, California company owes the Australian Tax Office a nice 28.5 million Australian dollars in back taxes, or approximately $29 million in US currency. Apple’s tax bill for the entire fiscal year 2012, which ended September 24, sits at $94.7 million on $4.9 billion in revenue in local currency. Earlier this week, the French government demanded Amazon pay $252 million in back taxes. The government charged the online retail giant operated a network of smaller units, including a Luxembourgh-based tax haven… Read More

 

Apple Accused of Witholding $6.3 Million in Taxes from French iPad Sales

By Jake Smith on Jan 30, 2012

Apple is coming under new accusations today for reportedly witholding payments due from ‘copy tax’, from iPads sold in France. French publication Les Echos is reporting that Apple is refusing to pay the tax on 64GB iPads sold in 2011, and is now coming under-fire.

Apple reportedly owes a total of €4.74 million ($6.3 million), which comes from the 500,000 iPads sold in France during 2011.

So what is a copy tax exactly? Read More