Sunday's technology stories
Assessing Sean Spicer's first presser claims
On his boss' first day as President, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer assailed the media for allegedly misreporting inauguration turnout numbers
Apple follows FTC suit and sues Qualcomm
The claims: As the WSJ reports, Apple seeks $1 billion in rebate payments from Qualcomm over claims that Qualcomm placed "onerous, unreasonable and costly" terms on Apple as a way to retaliate against Apple for cooperating with a South Korean anititrust probe into Qualcomm's licensing practices. The probe smacked a $583 million fine onto Qualcomm last month.
A damning nugget: Apple alleges that after they cooperated with the South Korean probe, Qualcomm "attempted to extort Apple into changing its responses and providing false information to the KFTC in exchange for Qualcomm's release of those payments." Qualcomm didn't immediately comment on the suit.
Join the club: This comes three days after the Federal Trade Commission announced its own law suit against Qualcomm alleging it made Apple exclusively use its chips in exchange for reducing the fees the iPhone maker pays Qualcomm for patent licenses.
Update:
- Qualcomm's responds: EVP and General Counsel Don Rosenberg told Axios that Apple "has been actively encouraging regulatory attacks on Qualcomm's business in various jurisdictions around the world."
- Apple's responts: Apple told Axios that to protect Qualcomm's "business scheme Qualcomm has taken increasingly radical steps, most recently withholding nearly $1B in payments from Apple as retaliation for responding truthfully to law enforcement agencies investigating them."