Apple was accused of monopoly and was subjected to a class action lawsuit. In recent years, the anti-monopoly trend of large companies has been constant, and Apple has attracted special attention because of its closed ecological environment. Apple is also improving these problems through flexible means. Apple was accused of monopoly and was subjected to a class action lawsuit.

Apple was accused of monopoly and was subjected to class action lawsuit 1 Recently, some users in the United States initiated a class action lawsuit against Apple, accusing Apple of violating the US antitrust law, mainly because Apple Pay can only be used as the only mobile payment method on iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

This time, Hagens Berman and Sperling & amp； Slater and other law firms jointly filed a lawsuit. It is claimed that Apple prevents competitors from using NFC near field communication function on their devices, thus preventing competing software such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay from providing mobile payment services on Apple devices, and in this way, it "illegally earns" at least $6,543.8 billion annually.

According to the indictment, the issuing bank must pay 0. 15% credit card fee and 0.5% debit card fee to Apple for each transaction completed with bank cards issued in the United States. In contrast, Google allows multiple mobile wallets to be used on Android smartphones without charging American card issuers.

"Comparing the functions of Apple Pay with those of other mobile wallets available on Android devices (such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay) is like looking in the mirror, and the functions are the same," said Steve Berman, co-founder and managing partner of Hagens Berman. "However, using mobile wallets on Android, card issuers don't have to pay any fees, but through Apple Pay, they have to pay every year.

According to the indictment, if the Apple Pay service joins other competitors on Apple devices, Apple will not be able to maintain its large income through Apple Pay.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Northern California. Specifically, it accused Apple of repeatedly violating the federal Sherman Act by "bundling" Apple Pay to its mobile devices and monopolizing the mobile payment market of iOS.

The lawsuit requires that all card issuers be exempted from the fees paid to Apple when using Apple Pay.

Berman said that this is the third time that Apple has been sued for violating the anti-monopoly law. In 20 15, the law firm reached a settlement agreement with Apple and publishing companies on e-book pricing of 560 million US dollars. At the beginning of this year, this law firm reached a settlement agreement of $6,543.8 billion with Apple on behalf of iOS application developers. The developer said that Apple's rule at that time was that the app store charged 30%, which was too high.

Apple Pay faces similar censorship in other regions, including Australia and Europe. In May this year, the European Commission informed Apple of its preliminary view that Apple abused its dominant position in the mobile payment market for iOS devices by restricting other payment methods by restricting NFC technology functions on Apple devices.

In recent years, the anti-monopoly trend of large companies has been continuing, and Apple has received special attention because of its closed ecological environment. From the "side load" of the App Store to the 30% problem, and then to today's Apple Pay payment. Almost every link has the risk of being sued, and Apple is improving these problems through flexible means.

Apple was accused of monopoly and was subjected to a class action lawsuit. On July 20, Beijing time, the Russian competition regulator said on Tuesday that it would impose a fine on Apple because it violated the Russian anti-monopoly law and abused its dominant position in the app store market.

The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said that Apple would be fined according to its turnover in the country, and the specific amount of the fine would be determined during the administrative investigation. If the fine is imposed according to the turnover, the amount may be relatively large. For example, on Monday, Russia fined Google $370 million for repeatedly refusing to delete banned content, which was calculated based on Google's turnover in Russia.

"Apple abused its dominant position in the iOS app distribution market," FAS said in a statement. "Apple prohibits iOS app developers from telling customers the possibility of buying or using alternative payment methods outside the app store."

Apple has not commented yet.

Russia's action against Apple on the grounds of anti-monopoly also echoed the high-profile pursuit of Apple by the European Commission. The EU believes that a "closed ecosystem" "unfairly protects" apples from competition. For a long time, Russia has always opposed the influence of foreign technology platforms on the Russian market, but since the outbreak of Russia and Ukraine in February, this dispute has been escalating.

Previously, Russia imposed a series of fines on western companies that violated Internet laws. Critics say this is Russia's attempt to exert more control over cyberspace, including requiring western companies to store customer data on Russian servers, deleting content according to the requirements of Russian communications regulators, and opening local offices in the country.

Russia initially imposed tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars on western technology companies, and now it is greatly increasing economic penalties.

According to US media reports, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said in a statement that the American technology giant Apple Inc. will impose a fine on the company because of its dominant position in the app store, and the amount of the fine will be determined according to the turnover of Apple Inc.

This time, Russia announced a fine for Apple, perhaps not out of retaliation against the United States, but because Apple did have serious monopolistic behavior.

Yesterday, Apple was sued by several American payment card issuers. According to the indictment of the federal court in San Francisco, Apple "forced" consumers who use smartphones, smart watches and tablets to use their wallets, namely Apple Pay, to make mobile payments. Other mobile phones and tablets using Android allow consumers to choose wallets such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

According to one of the plaintiffs, Apple's anti-competitive behavior caused more than 4,000 banks using Apple Pay to pay Apple more than $654.38 billion for this privilege.

When using Apple Pay for debit transactions, Apple charges the card issuer 0. 15% of the credit card transaction fee and a fixed fee of 0.5 cents each time, while users using Android system do not have to pay.

On May 2 this year, the EU anti-monopoly regulator also initiated an accusation against Apple, which is the second accusation made by the EU regulator against Apple. Apple may face a fine of up to $36.6 billion, which is its global turnover of 202 1 year. However, Apple subsequently denied the accusation in a statement on the grounds of security.

In essence, Apple's monopolistic behavior is to use its technological advantages and leading position in the industry to enhance the exclusivity of its products and services and force consumers to choose their products and services.

Monopoly means a steady stream of profits and indisputable right to speak, so that Apple is not afraid of high fines. So we must solve the problem from the root. We should let Apple open its mobile payment system to competitors, cancel the monopoly of some key technologies, change the closed state of the technology "ecosystem", truly achieve equal and fair competition, let enterprises continuously improve their products and services in healthy competition, and let the right to speak and choose return to consumers.