Qualcomm Seeks US Import Ban for iPhones

Megalith

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Qualcomm isn’t taking Apple’s refusal to pay licensing fees well and is opting to screw the fruit company over by banning their top product from entering the country. The chipset maker is taking the case to the International Trade Commission, which actually blocked Qualcomm’s chips from entering the US some years back because of a patent dispute with Broadcom—hopefully for them, the tides are reversed this time. It would suck for Apple if they got blocked right before the release of the iPhone 8, which they have reportedly spent a lot of sweat and tears on. Thanks to Kyle for this one.

Incensed over Apple Inc.’s decision to stop paying it billions of dollars in licensing fees for smartphone chips, Qualcomm Inc. plans to retaliate by asking a U.S. trade agency to ban the imports of iPhones, according to a person familiar with the company’s strategy. Qualcomm is preparing to ask the International Trade Commission to stop the iPhone, which is built in Asia, from entering the country, threatening to block Apple’s iconic product from the American market in advance of its anticipated new model this fall, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
 
The Presidency has a history of overturning USITC decisions, going back to Ronald Reagan and possibly before then. Many people, given the chance to form an opinion about this possible action, would do so based on whatever consumer-oriented opinion they happen to have about the Apple brand.
 
Didn't Trump say something about making Apple build their products in the US? Seems this could be a way to piss in their cornflakes a bit, not that it'll accomplish much in the end

Unrelated, this is just a patent war. This used to go back and forth between apple and Samsung.
 
Unrelated, this is just a patent war. This used to go back and forth between apple and Samsung.
Oh yeah, I know. I just found a bit of amusement in his comment and then this happening. Expect nothing of it and care very little how it ends.
 
Apple will just pay the government off. That'll cost them less than what the licensing fees most likely are.
 
LOLOL this is getting really interesting. The other article on the front page has Tim cook and Apple pledging 1 billion dollars to help start up manufacturing in the US. Looks like Apple used the billions promised to qualcomm and decided to use it to fund production in the US. Corporate drama at its finest.

I like the part where in the article where they estimate this to be 1/3 of qualcomm's patent income, which means they have been getting 1.5 billion dollars yearly because they own patents. Even though a phone isn't using a Qualcomm chip, they still get money.Qualcomm doesn't own any chip fabs, they contract out to suppliers in china and korea just like Apple. So they don't actually make anything other than the first device of its type in the market, then they dictate how and when this technology can be used. Talk about a sweet deal, patent system at its finest.

The Presidency has a history of overturning USITC decisions, going back to Ronald Reagan and possibly before then. Many people, given the chance to form an opinion about this possible action, would do so based on whatever consumer-oriented opinion they happen to have about the Apple brand.

The article estimates apples US sales to be around 86 billion dollars, how much of that was the latest Iphone it doesn't say, but I highly doubt any politician in their right mind is going to do anything to harm that kind of potential tax revenue. Banning the Iphone in the US would probably cause more tax revenue to be lost than Qualcomm is losing in profits. If the trade commission doesn't tell Quallcomm to suck it up, the presidency or political powers will because they want that money. Jet fuel is getting expensive these days, and the general fund always needs to be replenished...
 
Do you mean local sales tax, or federal income tax for Apple store clerks, or what?
but I highly doubt any politician in their right mind is going to do anything to harm that kind of potential tax revenue. Banning the Iphone in the US would probably cause more tax revenue to be lost than Qualcomm is losing in profits.
 
Do you mean local sales tax, or federal income tax for Apple store clerks, or what?

All the above. It all trickles back to the feds eventually. Local sales taxes get used to pay employees and fund other localized projects, which require even more employees, which in turn pay more federal taxes. Not to mention any other special fees that have been attached to the product via lolcal and state laws. E-waste recycling fees are a real up and commer these days.

Rofl... was about to edit my mistype, but now that i look at it, i think its appropriate given the follow up sentence.
 
make no mistake...I am in full support of the free market system so I love this kind of info

big oil...every body loves to hate on them...between 2006 and 2010, the largest oil companies averaged a profit margin of around 6.5%

"At the gas tank integrated oil companies make about 7 cents per gallon. Meanwhile, the government extracts more than 48 cents, on average, per gallon. That’s right: Uncle Sam takes nearly seven times more out of drivers’ wallets via taxation than “Big Oil.”

Apple on the other hand...Between the fourth quarter of 2013 and the fourth quarter of 2016, Apple's gross margin has bounced around between about 37% and 40.1%

Apple can kiss my white ass and take their lumps as they come...funny how people have no problem with Apple raping them ,but feel they are getting shafted by oil companies
 
Personally I find this hilarious, and hope Qualcomm is successful, maybe the outrage of apple fanatics, and the billions in payoffs apple will make to politicians, will force the government to finally start on reworking the ancient intellectual property laws in this country.

Now I will admit that is only part of my reasoning, the others being that I think apple could afford to be taken down a few pegs, how better to do that then by the same method they have used against others. Additionally, the outrage and drama from apple fanatics being unable to get the newest iCrap would be totally epic and is something I really would love to see. :ROFLMAO:



make no mistake...I am in full support of the free market system so I love this kind of info

big oil...every body loves to hate on them...between 2006 and 2010, the largest oil companies averaged a profit margin of around 6.5%

"At the gas tank integrated oil companies make about 7 cents per gallon. Meanwhile, the government extracts more than 48 cents, on average, per gallon. That’s right: Uncle Sam takes nearly seven times more out of drivers’ wallets via taxation than “Big Oil.”

Apple on the other hand...Between the fourth quarter of 2013 and the fourth quarter of 2016, Apple's gross margin has bounced around between about 37% and 40.1%

Apple can kiss my white ass and take their lumps as they come...funny how people have no problem with Apple raping them ,but feel they are getting shafted by oil companies


Yeah, I've always found things like that interesting. Another example of how someone will demonize a drug company for a life saving drug costing a few hundred dollars but think nothing of a cell phone costing $800, do people see more value in an iphone then a person's life?

Another interesting thing, along a similar line, anti tobacco people always complain about "evil tobacco companies" making money off "selling poison" but government, at all levels, makes far more off of cigarette sales than any tobacco company could ever dream of, The federal government along brings in over $15 billion a year in excise tax, just on cigarettes, and states pulled in over $24 billion in taxes and almost $9 billion more from the legalized blackmail agreement they forced on tobacco companies in 1998. Plus of course there is the inconvenient truth that smokers actually save the government money by dying earlier to lower cost and faster acting diseases such as lung cancer instead of more expensive lingering ailments (I remember when that research first hit the airwaves, then was hidden away quickly, those poor researchers were also crucified.)

It's ironic how people "value" things. Sorry for the partial hijack.
 
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