Apple faces $3.82 billion UK antitrust lawsuit over iCloud storage
Confusingly-named U.K. consumer-protection group “Which?” has filed a 3 billion-pound ($3.82 billion) lawsuit against Apple, claiming the company breached UK competition rules with its iCloud storage service. “Which?” claims that Apple abuses its dominance by pushing users towards iCloud storage of data such as photos and messages without letting them back up their data with a competing provider. “Which?” claims Apple favors its own iCloud software over rivals’ offerings.
Edith Hancock for The Wall Street Journal:
The group also claimed that Apple overcharged users for iCloud subscriptions. Users get up to 5 gigabytes of free storage, but Apple charges a subscription for added capacity.
The group filed its suit to the U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal seeking compensation for customers who have used iCloud since October 2015.
Apple said its users aren’t required to use iCloud and that it is working to make data transfer between services possible.
“We reject any suggestion that our iCloud practices are anticompetitive and will vigorously defend against any legal claim otherwise,” the company said in a statement.
MacDailyNews Take: macOS and iOS devices support third-party online storage services (for example: Box, Dropbox, and Microsoft One Drive). Apple’s Files app for iOS also supports third-party services including, for example, Box, Dropbox, and Microsoft One Drive. Users can also easily create their own private cloud storage system, bypassing the need for iCloud or third-party online storage services altogether.
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