The European Commission are investigating claims that Apple are ripping off UK music fans with the British version of iTunes.
The investigation centres on the fact that the UK version of the service charges 79p per track, where as the French and German versions of the service charge 99 Euro-cents per track, which converts to 68p. That means it is cheaper to buy music from mainland Europe iTunes than from the UK store (tracks are cheaper still in the US and Canada, but that is outside the EC's domain).
The case has reached the EC after British consumer rights magazine
Which? complained to the UK's Office Of Fair Trading. As previously reported, Which? claim Apple's pricing policies contravene European competition law, allegations the OFT wants the EC to investigate.
Which?'s
Principal Policy Adviser, Phil Evans, told reporters: "The online music market is a huge growth area; the [European] Single
Market should work the same in this market as others. 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."
Apple have not, as yet, responded to the news that the EC will investigate their pricing structure, although when Which? first raised the issue last year the computer giant defended its decision to look at each market separately when considering price: "The underlying economic model in each country has an impact on how we price our downloads. That's not unusual - look at the price of CDs in the US versus the UK. We believe the real comparison to be made is with the price of other track downloads in the
UK."