Italy fines Apple for misleading consumers

Italy's anti-trust authority said yesterday it was imposing a €900,000 (Dh4.37-million) fine on US tech giant Apple for misleading consumers on assistance services and guarantees for its products. "Sanctions of a total of €900,000 have been imposed on the Apple group after it was found responsible for bad commercial practices that harmed consumers," the agency said in a statement. Apple had given "unclear information on payments for additional assistance offered to consumers" and the company had not "fully implemented the two-year guarantee by the producer," it added. European antitrust officials earlier this month launched a probe to determine whether Apple and five international publishers struck illegal deals to fix the price of e-books in Europe. Article continues below Apple has also come under pressure from a bitter global legal battle with South Korean electronics giant Samsung, which accuses the US giant of infringing four of its patents with the iPhone. Apple reported a record net profit of $6.62 billion (Dh24.3 billion) in the third quarter of this year.