Apple equalises UK iTunes prices

By Stephen Withers
Thursday, 10 January 2008 00:37

Technology

Apple will bring UK iTunes Store music prices into line with those in the rest of Europe.

Within six months the company will lower its UK pricing to the level that already applies Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain.

Apple officials said the company currently pays higher wholesale prices in the UK, and that it will "reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK" with labels that do not extend pan-European pricing to the UK within six months.

"This is an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing."

The higher prices charged in the UK led to an antitrust investigation by the European Commission.

EC competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said "The Commission is very much in favour of solutions which allow consumers to benefit from a truly Single Market for music downloads."

EC officials also noted they had determined that no agreement exists between Apple and the record companies regarding the organisation of the iTunes Store in Europe - "Rather, the structure of the iTunes store is chosen by Apple to take into account the country-specific aspects of copyright laws."

While the Commission would prefer to see what would be essentially a single iTunes Store for the whole of Europe, officials noted that some record companies and other rightsholders still use licensing practices that make it difficult (some might say impossible) for Apple to achieve this.

The EC will be taking no further action against Apple in the antitrust case, but its statement seems to leave open the possibility of tackling other parts of the music industry to help achieve a true single market across the European Union.