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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Apple defends iTunes in Berlin, Brussels

Reuters:

Apple President Steve Jobs reiterated his commitment to charging the same price for iTunes downloads across Europe as his lawyers defended the company on Wednesday against allegations its prices are not uniform.

"We think prices should be the same. We think anybody in Europe should buy off any store," Jobs told a press conference in Berlin, which he visited in connection with an iPhone deal.

At the same time, Apple officials were defending the company in Brussels.

The Commission charged in April that Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group and Warner Music Group were forcing Apple to curtail cross-border access to iTunes.

Now that the EU's case against Microsoft was found to be basically flawless, you can expect regulators there to turn their attention to other computer industry near-monopolies, most notably Apple (with the iPod and iTunes) and Google (with online search, or, more appropriately, online advertising). Apple fans are curiously militaristic in their defense of the company along these lines, but bundling is bundling, and if the EU made Microsoft decouple Windows Media Player from Windows, you can pretty much expect the same treatment of the iPod and iTunes.

This issue cited above is, of course, about pricing of music online. But this is how cans of worms get opened. Stay tuned.

Related: Time for Apple to face the music?

Labels: Apple, iPod, iTunes

[ Posted at 5:43 PM | Permalink ]