StarDestroyer.Net BBS

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has referred Apple's iTunes service to the European Commission on grounds that it overcharges UK customers.

The move follows a complaint from Which? that iTunes charges UK users 20% more than those in France and Germany.

Which?, formerly the Consumer Association, also complained that the UK customers were barred from logging on to the French and German sites.

The OFT is asking the European Commission to rule on the matter.

It said the Commission was better placed to judge on the matter because "Apple iTunes operates in more than three European Union member states".

Free movement

Phil Evans, principal policy adviser at Which?, said it was a freedom of trade issue.

"The online music market is a huge growth area; the Single Market should work the same in this market as in others," he said.

"We're campaigning for free movement of goods and services in Europe and we'll take on any company, or group of companies, that seek to carve up the market to their benefit."

No-one at Apple was immediately available for comment.

'Economic factors'

Whereas iTunes customers in the UK have to pay 79p to download a song, those in Germany and France are only charged 99 cents or 68p.

Back in September Apple defended the price differential, saying that "the underlying economic model in each country has an impact on how we price our track downloads".

"That's not unusual - look at the price of CDs in the US versus the UK," an Apple spokesman said.

"We believe the real comparison to be made is with the price of other track downloads in the UK."

Ed Averdieck, European sales and marketing director for OD2, which runs music download sites for everyone from HMV to Wanadoo, Tiscali and MTV, said there was no reason why firms should charge UK customers anymore than those on the continent.

"Our retailers charge everyone in Europe the same price, and we believe there should be such a unified pricing policy." he said.

"If you look at MSN, for example, it charges 99 cents in the eurozone and 69p in the UK [the same amount].

"We believe this is right and that there is no reason why UK consumers should have to pay any more."

Do you honestly think that, because Apple can sustain a certain price in Germany, that they must, therefore, be able to sustain that price in the UK? Being a part of the EU doesn't mean shit; each country has a completely different culture that impacts any economic models that might be drawn up.

Durandal wrote:That's certainly possible, and a ruling against Apple in this case would probably set a massive precedent for the distribution of copyrighted materials throughout the EU. Do CDs throughout the EU have different pricing?

Then there's also the possibility that Apple could charge some sort of surcharge (amounting to say ... 20% ) if you want to buy from the French store from outside France or without a French credit card to maintain their margins.

Vendetta wrote:

Durandal wrote:That's certainly possible, and a ruling against Apple in this case would probably set a massive precedent for the distribution of copyrighted materials throughout the EU. Do CDs throughout the EU have different pricing?

Then there's also the possibility that Apple could charge some sort of surcharge (amounting to say ... 20% ) if you want to buy from the French store from outside France or without a French credit card to maintain their margins.

CDs are differently priced, but you can go to other countries to purchase them at the lower price and no-one can stop you or charge you more for them.

Durandal wrote:That's certainly possible, and a ruling against Apple in this case would probably set a massive precedent for the distribution of copyrighted materials throughout the EU. Do CDs throughout the EU have different pricing?

Then there's also the possibility that Apple could charge some sort of surcharge (amounting to say ... 20% ) if you want to buy from the French store from outside France or without a French credit card to maintain their margins.

Keevan_Colton wrote:

Vendetta wrote:

Durandal wrote:That's certainly possible, and a ruling against Apple in this case would probably set a massive precedent for the distribution of copyrighted materials throughout the EU. Do CDs throughout the EU have different pricing?

Then there's also the possibility that Apple could charge some sort of surcharge (amounting to say ... 20% ) if you want to buy from the French store from outside France or without a French credit card to maintain their margins.

CDs are differently priced, but you can go to other countries to purchase them at the lower price and no-one can stop you or charge you more for them.

Also the physical costs of shipping, handling, warehouse storage etc affect the cost of CD's at a given location. Selling non-physical products via the web run into none of these concerns.

Charging a higher amount because you think you can get away with it is simply fucking with the consumer.

Praxis wrote:Setting up and running servers transferring multiple gigabytes (if not terabytes) a day with massive amounts of bandiwidth isn't the cheapest thing to maintain, either...

Vohu Manah wrote:Could it have more to do with the music companies themselves than Apple? Music distributers can vary from country to country, even neighboring nations.

Praxis wrote:

Vohu Manah wrote:Could it have more to do with the music companies themselves than Apple? Music distributers can vary from country to country, even neighboring nations.

That's very true. Apple has to pay a sort of 'tax' on every song they sell. It could be more in the UK. Or it could just be market price.

I think this is ridiculously stupid. You don't like the price, you don't buy it, simple. Apple is charging based on economic conditions.