Apple is facing a nearly £3 billion lawsuit alleging it breached competition law by locking millions of British consumers into its cloud storage service at what was effectively a “rip-off” price.
The legal claim is brought by “Which?” Consumer groups argued that if the measure was successful, around 40 million Apple customers in the UK would be entitled to payments of an average of £70 each.
However, Apple said it rejected “Which?” It intends to “vigorously defend'' any legal claims.
There have been similar lawsuits related to this issue. Launched against Apple in the US It is scheduled for March this year, but has not yet been concluded.
Which one? instructed an international law firm and said the class action involved all UK consumers who paid for iCloud services after October 1, 2015.
Built into every Apple device, iCloud is the American tech company's cloud storage service that lets you keep your photos, files, and other data secure online, backed up, and available when you need it.
Users get 5GB of storage for free, but need to pay for more, with plans ranging from 99p per month to £54.99 per month. Last year, plan prices increased by up to 29%. Some media expressed this price increase as “.Shocking price hike” impacting millions of people.
Which one? The legal claim was filed with the Competition Appeal Court. The Competition Appeal Tribunal is a specialist UK judicial body that adjudicates cases involving competition or economic regulation issues.
The lawsuit alleges that Apple “breached UK competition law by giving preferential treatment to its iCloud storage service and 'locking' customers who own Apple devices into using iCloud.”
The paper said that Apple's iOS mobile operating system “has exclusivity, and it is Apple's responsibility not to use that exclusivity to gain an unfair advantage in related markets, such as the cloud storage market.”
Which one? Apple has been encouraging users to sign up for iCloud, but at the same time, Apple does not allow customers to store or back up all of their phone's data to third-party providers, including alternative providers. It makes it difficult to use.”
Consumer groups also argued that the resulting lack of competition “led to consumers being overcharged.”
Monthly iCloud subscription prices for UK consumers will increase by 20% to 29% in June 2023.
Which one? It said it was seeking damages from all affected Apple users, estimating that individual consumers “could be liable to pay an average of £70 depending on how long they paid their service charges during the period”. did.
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Consumer organizations use so-called “.Opt out of group activitiesThe system, introduced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, allows organizations to represent consumers where a large number of people have been allegedly harmed. All eligible persons will be automatically included in your bill unless they choose to opt-out.
Which one? instructed law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher to have Litigation Capital Management, a leading provider of 'dispute finance', fund the claim. But which one? It called on Apple to “resolve this claim without litigation by providing refunds to consumers and opening up iOS to allow users to actually choose their cloud services.” Ta.
Annabel Holt, the consumer group's chief executive, said: “We believe Apple customers owe close to £3 billion.”
Apple said in a statement: “Our users are not required to use iCloud, and many utilize a wide range of third-party alternatives for data storage.
“Additionally, we work hard to make data transfers as easy as possible, whether to iCloud or another service. We reject any suggestion that iCloud's practices are anti-competitive. We will refuse and will otherwise vigorously defend against any legal claims.”
The company says about 50% of its customers don't need or pay for an iCloud+ subscription. It added that its pricing is in line with other cloud storage providers, with a 6TB monthly plan costing £26.99, compared to Proton's price of £33.28.
