Which sues Apple for £3bn over iCloud lock-in

According to the suit, filed with the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), Apple has broken UK competition law by leveraging the dominance of iOS to gain an unfair advantage in the adjacent cloud storage market.

Which says Apple does this by encouraging users to sign up to iCloud to back up photos, videos and other data while simultaneously making it difficult to use alternatives because its terms and conditions prevent customers to share some of their data with a third-party provider.

Users get their first 5 GB of storage for free, but if they want to go over that limit – which is not unusual considering the amount of storage is taken up these days by photos and videos – they have to upgrade to iCloud+, which costs money.

In the UK, customers can get 50 GB for £0.99 per month. That rises to £2.99 for 200 GB, and if that's still not enough, data-hungry users can pay £8.99 for 2 TB.

While those price plans sound fairly reasonable, Which insists that given the lack of competition, consumers are paying over the odds, noting that Apple last year raised the prices of it subscription tiers by between 20 percent and 29 percent.

It has calculated that a typical Apple iCloud customer could be owed an average of £70, depending on how long they have been paying for the service. That adds up to a hefty chunk of change when that figure is extrapolated across Apple's 40 million-strong UK customer base.

"We believe Apple customers are owed nearly £3 billion as a result of the tech giant forcing its iCloud services on customers and cutting off competition from rival services," said Which chief executive Anabel Hoult.

"By bringing this claim, Which is showing big corporations like Apple that they cannot rip off UK consumers without facing repercussions. Taking this legal action means we can help consumers to get the redress that they are owed, deter similar behaviour in the future and create a better, more competitive market," she said.

A victim of its own success, Apple's business practices these days are subject to intense scrutiny by antitrust authorities the world over, in an effort to lift the lid on its mobile operating system, and let in rival service providers.

So far, the action has mostly centred on its App Store practices, specifically its historic policy of preventing developers from letting users download their apps from alternative sources – a scenario that would see Apple forego its 30 percent commission.

Recent highlights include a June ruling by the European Commission, which said Apple's App Store policies violate the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The law was brought in to rein in tech giants that have been categorised as so-called gatekeepers to online services.

In July, following another case brought by the EU, Apple was forced to open up its NFC technology to rival mobile wallet providers.

A consumer group like Which does not wield the same degree of clout that the EU does. However, with various legal precedents being set with regards to Apple's behaviour as an online gatekeeper – and with sentiment on its side – Which must fancy its chances.