Apple and Amazon worked together to raise the price of iPhones and iPads by eliminating third-party Amazon sellers who offered Apple products at a lower cost, according to a new antitrust lawsuit filed Wednesday in Washington.
The complaint, filed by Hagens Berman law firm, says that Apple and Amazon had an “unlawful horizontal agreement” that reduced the “competitive threat posed by third-party merchants,” a violation of federal antitrust laws. There were around 600 third-party sellers of Apple devices on Amazon Marketplace, which was whittled down to just seven.
Amazon began eliminating third-party sellers after it signed a 2019 deal with Apple to limit the number of resellers on Amazon marketplace to 20 per country. In exchange, Apple provided Amazon with a discounted wholesale price for iPhones and iPads.
For more details, read the full report at MacRumors:
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/11/09/amazon-apple-collusion-antitrust-lawsuit/
