Apple Canada Wants Ingram Micro to Stop Selling Used iPhones to Wind Mobile

Wind Mobile has been selling “lightly loved” iPhones since June 25. The carrier has brought this addition to its lineup in order to dramatically increase its subscriber base by offering customers low-cost, refurbished iPhones.

According to a report from The Globe and Mail, a battle has started between Apple Canada and Ingram Micro. Apple states that Ingram has breached its contract and has requested the supplier to stop providing Wind Mobile with refurbished iPhones.

“Ingram’s interpretation of the contract was that the distribution of used iPhones was not a breach and it expressed concern about cutting off Wind’s supply of the device, but ultimately said it wanted to co-operate with Apple.”

The report notes that Ingram agreed to provide Wind Mobile with 50,000 used iPhones. In a statement, Wind Mobile CEO Alek Krstajic said:

“I understand Apple has reached out to Ingram and is trying to stop them from giving us the iPhone. I’ve also heard that Bell has reached out to both Apple and Ingram again trying to stop them from supplying iPhones to Canadians who need them through Wind.”

In a statement Mark Langton, a spokesperson at Bell Canada, said:

“We became aware that resale iPhones were available in the Canadian market… When we investigated to determine whether we could also sell them, Apple made clear our agreement prevented us from doing so. We spoke to Apple and Ingram only about the possibility of Bell also selling resale phones.”

The source reached out to Apple for a comment, however, Apple spokesman Darrell Etherington (former editor at TechCrunch) declined to comment.

Wind Mobile is currently selling the 16GB iPhone 5s for $499 and 16GB iPhone 5c for $399. The Canadian wireless carrier currently has over 800,000 subscribers.