Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:57 pm

Guest wrote:

Correction: The movie selection at the <bold>US</bold> iTunes Store increased on Monday with the addition of films from Lionsgate. UK iTunes customers are still waiting for movies... and TV shows... and a decent pricing policy for that matter. When finally launched, my bet is that movies will cost a fair bit more than $9.99 (Ј5.10) once again brushing aside the little matter of currency conversion.

There are probably several sources for the price differences, including:

- VAT and national sales taxes. The US does not (as of now) have a national sales tax or VAT. Many states do, but merchants generally do not have to collect sales taxes from anyone outside the state(s) where they physically do business (have a "business presence"). It can get complicated--in some states, the buyers are supposed to send the sales tax to the state. (Right. Sure they will. I live in Oregon, which has no sales tax--yet.) So far, the US Congress has resisted calls from the states to mandate collecting sales taxes on Internet purchases. (Mailorder purchases are treated the same, but it was the explosion in Internet sales that brought the situation to a head.) This is one case where the interests of large corporations and consumers may align.

- Exclusive distribution agreements. It may be the case that, to sell a song, movie, or TV show in, say, the UK, Apple would have to get permission from--and pay--the exclusive UK distributor as well as the original copyright holder. I recall reading that Russian exclusive distributors of Macs (and other name-brand computers) add a hefty premium to the price.

- Dual income taxes. (I've had to pay income taxes on the same money in two different states.)