Apple Cracking Down on iPhone, iPad 'Giveaways'

Apple is cracking down on iPad and iPhone offers that fall foul of its Guidelines for Third Party Promotions.

Fortune reports that Apple is now enforcing rules that it set out in January that govern sweepstakes and giveaways involving its products.

A two-page document issued by Apple states that the iPad, iPhone and the iPhone Gift Card may not be used in third-party promotions and that the iPod touch is only allowed to be used in special circumstances.

It also states that using the modifier 'free' before any Apple product in such a promotion is strictly prohibited. Apple also requests that any marketing materials related to the promotion of Apple products in its Guidelines for Third Party Promotions.

Other rules for the promotions regard presentation - for example, the Myriad Set font cannot be used and only the most current versions of a particular product line can be featured, with no alterations to Apple's official photography.

In practice, though, offers that break these rules are found all over the web, particularly through social networking sites. It seems that Apple is only now making moves to protect its brand from organisers of promotions who either haven't read the company's guidelines or chosen to ignore them.

Source:pcworld.com