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Our Blogs The BeerFiles European Commission, miffed by record companies, charges Apple
Our Blogs The BeerFiles European Commission, miffed by record companies, charges Apple | European Commission, miffed by record companies, charges Apple |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Wednesday, 04 April 2007 | |
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According to the EC, the practice of forcing holders of credit cards issued by a bank of an EU country to shop only at the iTunes store of that country violates EU trade treaties. The EC acknowledges that the iTunes territorial restrictions have been imposed upon the company by Apple's content providers, namely the record companies. However, Apple has agreed to abide by the restrictions and therefore has to bear the brunt of the charges along with record companies operating in the EU. The iTunes issue, brought to a head by the EC, is one that may well some day expand beyond the boundaries of Europe as the Internet turns the world into a global online trading village. As iTunes users well know, the content of iTunes stores and the prices of products vary considerably for the online stores in different locations. While US residents get access to the widest possible range of content at the most favorable prices. Residents in countries of the EU and other places generally only have access to a subset of what's available on the US iTunes site, and usually at higher prices than in the US. There is little doubt that Apple would prefer to have just one iTunes store with its full inventory of downloads available at consistent prices globally without territorial restrictions and boundaries. It would do better business if that were the case. Unfortunately, the way international trade works in the offline world is light years behind what the Internet has made possible and Apple is hamstrung by the outdated distribution policies of its content providers. Meanwhile, residents of countries other than the US can only browse the US iTunes site with envy while they compare the pale imitation of the site that Apple provides them with locally.{moscomment}
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