Amazon and Apple signed their deal in 2018 and it led to a lawsuit accusing Apple and Amazon of getting rid of 98% of resellers, allowing Apple to raise the price of iPhone and iPad devices sold on Apple’s Amazon pages . According to the complaint, when Apple signed the deal with Amazon, Amazon agreed to only allow Apple Authorized Sellers to offer Apple devices on Amazon’s marketplace. This would keep prices of Apple devices higher than they otherwise would have been.
The suit also alleges that in exchange for limiting the number of sellers offering Apple devices on Amazon, Apple agreed to ship devices at a discount to Amazon. In June, the judge overseeing the class-action lawsuit involving Apple and Amazon, which accuses them of artificially raising the prices of iPhones and iPads on Amazon, refused to dismiss the case as requested by the defendants.
Apple’s Amazon storefront
The Business Insider report goes even further and says that Amazon’s deal with Apple also reduces the number of listings and recommendations found on Apple’s Amazon product pages. While other product pages on Amazon, like those of Apple’s competitors like
Samsung, are full of ads, recommendations, and sponsored results, Apple’s product pages only feature a single banner ad at the bottom.
Business Insider says other companies, including Samsung, have complained to Amazon about Apple’s preferential treatment. Limiting the number of ads and recommendations on Amazon’s Apple product pages could lead to increased sales of these devices because it would help the consumer focus on the Apple device offered for sale on a specific page.
Other companies wanted a deal similar to the one Apple got, but as the report notes, at least “half a dozen salespeople on Amazon’s advertising team” say “they were unable to extend this special Apple treatment to their customers. Amazon initially did not agree to Apple’s special requests, but eventually relented. At one point, Amazon asked Apple to compensate for lost advertising revenue from the deal, but it is unclear whether Apple agreed to this request when he signed the agreement.
Apple told Business Insider that the 2018 deal was aimed at reducing the high rate of counterfeit Apple products sold on the platform. Apple said it conducted test purchases on Amazon that “consistently returned high counterfeit rates.” Apple told Business Insider: “The 2018 settlements significantly reduced the sale of counterfeit and dangerous Apple products on Amazon marketplaces and significantly improved the customer experience.”
