OFT Refers iTunes Price Discrimination Claim To EC
It emerged last week that the UK's Office of Fair Trading has referred a complaint
regarding the pricing of Apple's iTunes music downloading service to the European
Commission. The issue was raised by the Which? consumer magazine, which revealed that UK
consumers are charged 20% more per downloaded song than their counterparts in
continental Europe. "UK consumers are getting a raw deal from Apple. The online music market
is a huge growth area; the Single Market should work the same in this market
as in others," Phil Evans, principal policy adviser for Which? told the
Out-Law news service. In addition to charging UK users of the downloading service more, Apple has
also barred them from using the cheaper services. The OFT announced on Friday that it referred the matter to the EC as the European
regulator is "better placed to consider this matter, in particular as Apple
iTunes operates in more than three EC member states". .
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