09 January 2008
In response to Apple’s announcement today that it will reduce download prices in the UK within 6 months to align them with prices in continental Europe, Which? lawyer Chris Warner says:
"We complained about Apple’s price discrimination back in 2004 - so we’re glad they’ve finally agreed to give British music lovers a fair deal.
“The fact they’ll soon be able to download tracks for the same price as European customers will be music to the ears of UK iTunes customers
"We hope other internet companies – including online music companies - will follow Apple’s lead and match UK prices to prices in continental Europe.
“It’s great to see the work of the European Commission delivering real benefits to UK consumers. We hope this is the first of many positive results like this.”
Which? would now like to see Apple lift restrictions that stop people downloading music from iTunes websites in other countries.
- Ends -
*Which? made a formal complaint to the OFT in September 2004 about the apparent price discrimination and anti-competitive pricing strategy of Apple iTunes. In particular, the consumer organisation was concerned that:
• Prices in the UK to download a song were about 20% more expensive than in either Germany or France (79p in the UK vs. 64p in continental Europe)
• UK consumers were not able to download songs from iTunes in France or Germany to avoid the higher UK price.
Given the European dimension, the OFT passed the case to the European Commission. A formal investigation was initiated by the Commission in early 2005.
The European Commission’s investigation concentrated on Apple iTunes as well as the major record companies (SonyBMG, Universal, EMI and Warner – the Majors). The Commission believed that the agreements between iTunes and each of the Majors which allowed iTunes to sell the music online were anti-competitive (and breached EU law) and that this was causing the price discrimination.
