EU Closes iTunes Investigation

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 9:35 AM - by

The European Union has closed its investigation into iTunes Store sales following Apple's announcement that it plans to introduce a unified European pricing scheme within six months. The E.U. investigation began in April 2007 after a U.K. consumer organization complained that British iTunes Store customers were paying more for music downloads than other European customers, according to Forbes.

E.U. competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said Apple's decision would let European iTunes Store customers "benefit from a truly single market for music downloads."

Apple claimed that the higher song prices in the U.K. were caused by record labels charging higher wholesale prices in Britain compared to the rest of Europe. The Mac and iPod maker pledged to bring U.K. iTunes Store prices in line with E.U. pricing within six months.

The company also stated that it would "reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK with any record label that does not lower its wholesale prices in the UK to the pan-European level within six months."

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Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:47 pm

Maybe the EU should investigate buying Apple hardware as well, as I believe the UK totally gouges compared with the rest of the EU, and especially when compared with the US... For no other reason than "because we can".

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