Friday, November 14, 2003, 11:30 am

Apple negotiating worldwide sales agreement with record labels?

By Kasper Jade

According to a Tech Central report, Apple is currently negotiating with record labels to provide worldwide sales through its iTunes music store. "Darren Sng, software product marketing manager for Apple Asia Pacific, said his company is currently in negotiations with music companies to enable worldwide sales of music via the online store, but he would not comment further."

Apple has recently run into a number of roadblocks when attempting to deploy their online music store in foreign nations -- especially in the continent of Europe -- due to much tighter restrictions on the sale of music outside the United States. The comment from Apple Asia Pacific software product manager seems to imply that Apple may be attempting to bypass restrictions on individual nations by forming a global agreement with record labels.

In related news, MacRumors today is reporting on rumors of an official iPod battery replacement program from Apple as well as an assumed launch of Apple's iPodRocks.com, aimed at promoting sales of iPods during the holiday season.