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The Courts Cloud The Almighty Buck United Kingdom Apple

Apple Faces UK 'iCloud Monopoly' Compensation Claim Worth $3.8 Billion (techcrunch.com) 44

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: U.K. consumer rights group 'Which?' is filing a legal claim against Apple under competition law on behalf of some 40 million users of iCloud, its cloud storage service. The collective proceeding lawsuit, which is seeking 3 billion pounds in compensation damages (around $3.8 billion at current exchange rates), alleges that Apple has broken competition rules by giving its own cloud storage service preferential treatment and effectively locking people into paying for iCloud at "rip-off" prices. "iOS has a monopoly and is in control of Apple's operating systems and it is incumbent on Apple not to use that dominance to gain an unfair advantage in related markets, like the cloud storage market. But that is exactly what has happened," Which wrote in a press release announcing filing the claim with the U.K.'s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).

The lawsuit accuses Apple of encouraging users of its devices to sign up to iCloud for photo storage and other data storage needs, while simultaneously making it difficult for consumers to use alternative storage providers -- including by not allowing them to store or back-up all of their phone's data with a third-party provider. "iOS users then have to pay for the service once photos, notes, messages and other data go over the free 5GB limit," Which noted. The suit also accuses Apple of overcharging U.K. consumers for iCloud subscriptions owing to the lack of competition. "Apple raised the price of iCloud for UK consumers by between 20% and 29% across its storage tiers in 2023," it wrote, saying it's seeking damages for all affected Apple customers -- and estimating that individual consumers could be owed an average of 70 pounds (around $90), depending on how long they've been paying Apple for iCloud services.
"Anyone who has 'obtained' iCloud services, including non-paying users, over the nine-year timeframe since the Consumer Rights Act came into force on October 1st, 2015," will be included in the claim. U.K.-based consumers will have to opt-out if they do not want to be included. "Consumers who live outside the U.K. and believe they are eligible to be included must actively opt-in to join the action," adds TechCrunch.

Apple Faces UK 'iCloud Monopoly' Compensation Claim Worth $3.8 Billion

Comments Filter:
  • I run my own cloud and see no reason why I am being stopped from integrating it with Iphone APIs.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday November 14, 2024 @08:40AM (#64945129) Homepage Journal

      There are two major roadblocks to using an alternative cloud to back up your iPhone.

      1. iCloud has access to secret APIs that let it save data that normal apps cannot access, like settings for other apps and the phone itself. It's impossible for other apps to provide a full phone backup that can restore your device.

      2. iCloud is excluded from the normal limits on app background activity, so it can easily upload large amounts of data such as when you take a load of photos or a long video. Other apps are aggressively killed if they try to upload in the background, so to back that data up to the cloud you need to keep that app open and on-screen for however long it takes.

      The EU will probably require Apple to open both of those things up. Android apps can already do (2), but even there some limits on (1) exist.

      • There are two major roadblocks to using an alternative cloud to back up your iPhone.

        1. iCloud has access to secret APIs that let it save data that normal apps cannot access, like settings for other apps and the phone itself. It's impossible for other apps to provide a full phone backup that can restore your device.

        2. iCloud is excluded from the normal limits on app background activity, so it can easily upload large amounts of data such as when you take a load of photos or a long video. Other apps are aggressively killed if they try to upload in the background, so to back that data up to the cloud you need to keep that app open and on-screen for however long it takes.

        The EU will probably require Apple to open both of those things up. Android apps can already do (2), but even there some limits on (1) exist.

        Also, some fairly significant storage loads (on Apple), such as ten-day storage for a certain number of cameras using HomeKit Secure Video, do not have that storage counted against their iCloud Plan Limit.

        Same thing with gigantic Email Attachments: Stored for Retrieval for 30 days without charge, and without counting against a User's iCloud Limit.

        BTW, those additional "freebie storage" benefits extend even to the Free 5 GB iCloud Tier.

        There are likely other Storage Freebies that I don't use; but those are t

  • is it Million or Billions? Make up your minds.

  • I would much rather use Nextcloud for photos and music backup, but currently that is impractical with Apple's restrictions. The iCloud storage prices are abusive.

    • by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

      $3 per month for 200GB of storage or $10 for 2TB is "abusive?" That's some first world problems you've got there. I've got the 200GB option and it's enough for my phone and ipad, and both kids ipads.

      • by KlomDark ( 6370 )
        Yes, it's absolute bullshit. I've got some 24 TB storage on my home NextCloud instance. Only cost after the initial hardware purchase is the electricity to keep it running and my time to keep updates installed. $120/year for 2TB _is_ abusive.
      • A 2TB HDD is what, $59.00 now [amazon.com]? Yes, that's a usurious scam. In a muslim country you could be put to death for this.
        • "In a muslim country you could be put to death for this."

          That's a new one, I think I just got a glimpse of a weird future.

        • by unrtst ( 777550 )

          A 2TB HDD is what, $59.00 now [amazon.com]? Yes, that's a usurious scam. In a muslim country you could be put to death for this.

          FFS, I hate defending any of Apple's practices, but you can't compare the cost of a HDD directly to the cost of the same amount of cloud storage. It's nowhere near the same thing.

          Compare it to similar offerings:
          * Apple iCloud: 2TB $10.99/mo (6TB for $32.99/mo)
          * Google One: 2TB $9.99/mo
          * Dropbox: 2TB $11.99/mo ($9.99/mo billed annually)
          * Microsoft 365 Personal: 1TB $5.83/mo billed annually (NOTE: for 2tb, I'm unsure of price, but one reference noted it would work out to $16.99/mo)
          * Box.com: -no comparable pl

          • by Kazymyr ( 190114 )

            Roll-your-own-cloud (from my personal experience)
            -old Dell PC with one free PCIe slot, Ivy Bridge CPU, 16GB RAM: about $80
            -PCIe SAS card: about $25
            -32TB worth of SAS enterprise drives (8x4TB) from decommissioned data centers, with 30000 to 50000h on them (i.e. with about half their useful life still left): about $200
            -Linux and OpenZFS: free
            -an hour or two of install and config time.
            After the initial cost: $0/month for 32TB space. Can be expanded at will as needed.

          • Compare it to similar offerings:

            Yeoman's Work there! Great List!!!

            That List should be Defense Exhibit 2. . .

  • You can backup your iOS device to any PC or Mac, which can then utilize Backblaze, Google Drive or whatever cloud thingy you want to use.

    https://support.apple.com/en-u... [apple.com]

    Sounds like the people bringing this suit are wanna be software architects with little imagination.

    • Not everyone owns a computer or needs a computer. There is even a small percentage of people who run OS's that are not Windows or Mac. For posting on Slashdot one would assume you would have heard of Linux.
      • According to apple, an iPad is a computer, yet you can't use a iPad to backup and restore an iPhone.

        • What an impossibly muddy statement. Not only would I have a hard time finding a quote where Apple said, "the iPad is a computer", there is no real definition of what a computer is or isn't. But you've implied that to be a computer means it can back up an iOS device. Which is silly.

          I'd be happy to hear a clarification, though. I suspect there's a point in here I'm not getting.

        • According to apple, an iPad is a computer, yet you can't use a iPad to backup and restore an iPhone.

          Kind of impractical, idiot; since they generally have similar Storage sizes.

          STFU, Hater.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Are you seriously suggesting that having to manually connect your iPhone and run a backup, and then backup the backup, is not going to drive people to use iCloud where it all happens automatically, continually, on the device itself?

      And that assumes you even have a computer, of course. And that it runs MacOS or Windows.

      It will be interesting to see if Apple tries the "you can do it, it's just a really shitty experience that you will probably forget to do until it's too late" defence.

    • > You can backup your iOS device to any PC or Mac, which can then utilize Backblaze, Google Drive or whatever cloud thingy you want to use.

      Why the hell should you have to do that? Why can't you just use Backblaze, Google Drive or whatever cloud thingy directly off the phone? Why does it *have* to be icloud?

      Apple are a defacto monopoly*, and as such, have to provide choice. Doing as they do now is market abuse*.

      * As defined in Europe. In the US, the 'bar' for such things is much higher as consumer protect

    • Thank you for proving the UKs point.
    • You can backup your iOS device to any PC or Mac, which can then utilize Backblaze, Google Drive or whatever cloud thingy you want to use.

      https://support.apple.com/en-u... [apple.com]

      Sounds like the people bringing this suit are wanna be software architects with little imagination.

      But Dollar Signs (Pound Signs?) Dancing in their eyes!

  • Dr. Evil in unimpressed.
  • My Android phone constantly nags me to turn on backup (cloud) transfers so that I can rack up storage bills with them. I'm happy just transferring anything I want to keep via a USB cable to my laptop which I then backup to an external drive periodically. That's good enough for anything on my phone. Stop nagging me, Google!
  • https://support.apple.com/en-u... [apple.com]

    I pay 99 cents a month for 50GB of iCloud. Backblaze charges $99/year for unlimited storage. ($8.25/month). For $10/month Apple will give me 2TB which is effectively unlimited for pretty much everyone at a similar price and it's integrated.

    I understand the complaint about special Apple only APIs and such but the pricing doesn't seem outrageous for most people who don't need unlimited storage. According to the Apple price chart, UK pays about the same as the US differing

    • 2 TB is nothing close to unlimited for "most people". Let alone most families sharing the iCloud system. High resolution photos and 4k videos take up a lot of space. That is only going to increase with increased adoption of depth of field videos and photos. About every 12-18 months I offload thousands of pictures and hundreds of video to an external hard drive, well two HDs so I have backup of the back up, to free up space on the iCloud account. That is only for my wife and me, we haven't even gotten our ki
      • Thousands of pictures and hundreds of videos, the vast majority of which no eyes will ever see again. I don't disagree with anything you said here. I think you are completely correct. But this digital packrat behaviour and the narcissistic overvaluing of the entertainment value of our lives is bizarre to me. The great thing about digital media is that when it dies, it dies for real, and we don't leave thousands of physical artifacts of our cute dog or our unremarkable child behind. No AI assist or HD captur

  • Really, I never wanted iCloud or OneDrive, they just sort of showed up one day with free storage that stole my private data "for free" iCloud in particular is pretty bad as it takes your photos, which are obviously as large as the local iphone storage, but then nags you endlessly because, oh no it's full! Pay us $1.00 a month for the amount of storage you can get on an SdCard for $10
  • I find myself in the interesting position of agreeing with the suit completely.

    - Clear statement of monopolistic behaviour
    - Specific recurring revenue stream related it
    - Damages that actually resemble the revenue at 75 pounds per head
    - Brought by an appropriate group and not just a bunch of... damn. No easy portmanteau for vultures and lawyers.

    I have the 200Gb plan, even though I don't have to. I could back up my multiple devices at home. But it's seamless and easy, and it's cheap. I don't feel harmed. But

  • It's not different than owning an automobile. You can buy a Dodge, and you can have whatever mechanic you want (or yourself) put whatever aftermarket parts on it that your heart desires. But if they're not Mopar parts installed by an approved technician, Dodge doesn't have to warranty any of it. And if your aftermarket parts don't work or don't work as well as their Mopar alternatives (if they even exist,) that's not Dodge's problem either.

    If you don't want the Apple Ecosystem, either don't buy Apple pro

Were there fewer fools, knaves would starve. - Anonymous

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