AppleInsider StaffSpeaking at a largely unpublicized iPhone press conference in Germany this morning, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs reiterated his commitment to charging the same price for iTunes downloads across Europe.
Simultaneously, lawyers for Apple were defending the company in Brussels, where the European Commission on Wednesday began holding hearings on the non-uniform pricing of songs across the European iTunes music stores.
The Commission's complaint, which dates back to 2005, stems from the fact that iTunes stores in France and Germany charge 99 euro cents ($1.38), while Britons must pay 79 pence ($1.58).
Thus far, the Commission appears to have placed the majority of blame on the record labels rather than Apple. In April, it charged that Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group and Warner Music Group were collectively forcing the iPod maker to curtail cross-border access to its digital download service.
According to a Reuters source present at Wednesday's hearing, a representative of Apple said there was "nothing in its contract with Universal obliging it to operate national stores or to set a higher price in countries such as Britain."
Apple, which was represented by iTunes chief Eddy Cue and general counsel Donald Rosenberg, stated that it had made unilateral decisions, in part because doing business in Europe turned out to be more complex than in the United States.
Retuers added that the hearing was originally to have run two days, but EMI and Warner dropped out, so it was abbreviated to one day.
Responding to the original allegations lodged back in April, an Apple spokesman said the company "always wanted to operate a single, pan-European iTunes store" that would be accessible by anyone from any member state.
"But we were advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us," the spokesman said. "We do not believe the company did anything to violate EU law, and we will continue to work with the EU to resolve this matter."
Christine McKee
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35 Comments
Does it strike anyone else that it's pretty unfair for the EU to ask a company to charge the same prices for goods across the continent when the Euro hasn't yet been fully adopted? It's pretty hard to do when the Pound (and others) are still openly exchanged against the Euro, not to mention it requires separate processing to handle the different currencies. From that standpoint I can understand why Apple doesn't want people accessing stores outside their home country, at least in the cases of Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, etc.
Maybe Apple should have uniform pricing. Then it would be a moot point. With a price of $0.99 in the states, and the equivalent of $1.38 in France & Germany and $1.58 in Great Briton doesn't quite seem fair. I understand that currency fluctuates but there has to be a way to bring the pricing closer to one another.
Does it strike anyone else that it's pretty unfair for the EU to ask a company to charge the same prices for goods across the continent when the Euro hasn't yet been fully adopted? It's pretty hard to do when the Pound (and others) are still openly exchanged against the Euro, not to mention it requires separate processing to handle the different currencies. From that standpoint I can understand why Apple doesn't want people accessing stores outside their home country, at least in the cases of Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, etc.
No its not an unfair thing for the EU to do, it is called the European Single Market and everybody else seems to manage quite fine sticking to it. The whole point of it is that it encourages free trade accross Europe and creates a competetive level playing field, which ultimatley is good for both business and the consumer. Steve Jobs is full of BS, if he really wanted to charge the same accross Europe then why does he not just bloody do it??
Maybe Apple should have uniform pricing. Then it would be a moot point. With a price of $0.99 in the states, and the equivalent of $1.38 in France & Germany and $1.58 in Great Briton doesn't quite seem fair. I understand that currency fluctuates but there has to be a way to bring the pricing closer to one another.
So every minute of every hour you want Apple to update their prices to reflect the currency trade? And you would be fine buying something for $.99 one day and $1.2 the next...then $.96 after that?
Why not just make all countries in the EU adopt the Euro?
Probably about as easy a task.
Pan-Euro? Wtf, we need some Pan-North American action here, that way us Canuks can get some video and movie content. We're only like what? An extra 34million people, that's nothing.