Apple is in hot water over international taxes again, this time it's in Italy. According to Reuters, the Cupertino company is currently under investigation by Italian authorities for alleged tax fraud.
The Italian government believes Apple may have hidden more than 1 billion euros (or $1.3 billion US) from the country's tax authority during 2010 and 2011, and Milan prosecutors want answers...
If you're planning on buying a brand spanking new iPhone 5c or treat yourself to one of the colorful new plastic iPhones, you'd be wise to consider Apple's $99 AppleCare+ extended warranty coverage.
Because, for all the talk of the iPhone 5c's seamless hard-coated polycarbonate plastic shell ("you won’t see seams, or part lines, or joins,” Apple boasts; here's how it's made), the device is in fact prone to scratches and can be damaged.
The problem is, AppleCare+ is only available in the United States, Canada and Japan. Well, not anymore. Today, the extended warranty coverage is available to customers in the United Kingdom, France and Italy. Learn more just after the break...
Facebook on Sunday announced a new promotion that will allow users of Messenger for iOS and Android to exchange instant messages for free or at heavily discounted data rates in select international markets. Partnering with more than eighteen operators in fourteen international markets, the social networking giant said Facebook for Every Phone, basically a bare-bone service for feature phones that is now optimized for chat, is also included in this promotion.
The move arrives just after the company flipped the switch on the in-app VoIP calling feature in its mobile client for iOS and Android devices. Facebook first rolled out VoIP calling in Canada earlier this year, and some parts of the US, via the Messenger app...
Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), Italy’s antitrust authority, punished Apple over failing to comply with local laws concerning AppleCare warranties, a report Friday noted. After the company had faced a temporary closure of Italy operations and even removed its AppleCare products from all sales channels in the country (except for its online store), the country's regulator nevertheless fined the iPhone maker 200,000 euros, or approximately $264,000. This is in addition to the 900,000 euro (approximately $1.2 million) fine from March over failing to tell customers about their rights to free assistance, as mandated by EU laws...
Bloomberg in October reported of Justice Minister Viviane Reding pushing EU regulators into probing Apple over its ambiguous warranty advertising in the European Union. And earlier in the year, consumer groups demanded that eleven EU countries pressure Apple into complying with EU's consumer laws. As a result, Apple's warranty plans with extended device coverage are about to be pulled from retail channels in Italy. Better still, Apple is finally informing buyers that EU law entitles them to a minimum two-year seller guarantee, free of charge...
Just as Apple escaped a snowballing PR catastrophe in Australia over false "4G" iPad advertising (it settled with Australian watchdog for $2.25 million), the company is facing trouble in Italy, where antitrust authorities are threatening closure of Apple's operations in the 60 million people market over misleading consumer with coverage advertising. The company has 30 days to make its case.
Cupertino was found guilty of selling its $99 a year AppleCare coverage even though a two-year warranty is mandated by the European Union. Furthermore, Apple's warranty covers only its products, while EU consumer protection laws require sellers to provide coverage for both first- and third-party products.
What's Apple gonna do in Italy?