Apple has lost an appeal against a fine levied on the company in Taiwan for engaging in business practices deemed to be anti-competitive.
The company will now be fined TW$20 million ($650.6 million) for requiring its Taiwanese partners to receive approval for pricing plans bundled with iPhones in advance of the launch of the smartphones, Reutersreported.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) found that Apple artificially limited operators from setting contract prices for iPhone 4, 4S, 5 and 5S smartphones, which is in contravention of Taiwanese law.
Besides prices, Apple also insisted on approving subsidy offerings, price differentials between old and new devices and advertising content.
Reuters notes that this is the first time the FTC has fined Apple for limiting the ability of operators to set their own prices.
The Commission has taken the view that once ownership of a phone is transferred to a third-party telecom operator, the vendor loses the right to determine prices.
Apple has captured the lion's share of the Taiwanese smartphone market, with a 32% slice of the overall customer base. Taiwan is also an important market for Apple because so much of its component and assembly supply chain is located in the electronics industry focused market.