I'd seriously consider ignoring Samab because if you check out a majority of his posts relating to anything about Apple in Europe, and specifically his posts in regards to the unlocking of the iPhone in France and Germany (which had nothing at all to do with the EU) his posts were extremely anti-European and down-right ignorant.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Lowering iTunes Prices in UK
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'd seriously consider ignoring Samab because if you check out a majority of his posts relating to anything about Apple in Europe, and specifically his posts in regards to the unlocking of the iPhone in France and Germany (which had nothing at all to do with the EU) his posts were extremely anti-European and down-right ignorant.
I am curious to know what the cost of living is across the boundaries.
In the end, Apple's stance has me worried for my European friends. I'm not sure how much the companies will bend. And if they don't, then that'll be it for the iTMS (I'm sure the store will still have games and stuff
)They won't do it for digital music --- because the majority of the music studios are European owned (EMI, Vivendi...). This is why the French government had to back down on the itunes interoperability demands.
I wonder how Britain's eurosceptic press is going to spinn this to make the EU look bad... it's a tough one but I'm sure they're up to the task.
Majority of all business done in Europe is European owned and it hasn't stopped EU from liberating almost all fields of business.
And again you are confusing french law and European Union.
Reading this might be helpfull for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_union
Then read this and try to spot the difference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France
A better question of why Apple is having to dole out these veiled threats of "examining relationships" if the labels don't lower their prices. The government should be forcing the labels to reduce their pricing regardless of what Apple does. Is it Apple's job to police the EU's markets?
I beleive you still have to register on iTunes to use giftcards, and that includes suppling a credit/debit card, which has a residential address listed. The record companies would just have to see what iTunes acct the tracks were purchased under, and then see where that account was registered. I can't remember what happens if you move to another country.
Because you registered with a credit card listed at your UK address perhaps?
I am not confusing anything. What I am saying is that national governments will protect their national interest --- rendering any attempts to have a EU wide single standard difficult.
The first Beatles music will run out of copyright protections in 2012 --- which means that UK is constantly looking at whether to extend copyright protections for another 45 years (much like the so-called Disney extension in the US). Do you think that there is going to be a EU-wide digital music deal when UK is looking at whether they are going to extend Beatles' copyright protection for another 45 years?
All the hoopla's on the French government's attempt to have the itunes interoperability issue ironed out last year --- came back a big fat zero because the French government was afraid to hurt Vivendi's bottomline.
Interestingly, or not depending on your POV, I don't live i the UK, but I changed the postcode field in my .Mac account to that of the London Regent Street AppleStore and this enabled me to use the UK iTMS....Because you registered with a credit card listed at your UK address perhaps?
Harmonizing legislation has allways been the hard part about EU. Still it has allways moved forward and in much more important areas of industry than music business, which isn't that big of an industry anyway. Markets have been opened to products like steel, constuction and computers. There are propably dozens of examples where national goverments had much bigger economic interest to defend than with record industry. None of your examples really make me believe that digital music will be tougher to push trough than average EU project.
After all CDs, LPs and other "solid" forms of music are allready sold freely within Europe. Record industry couldn't stop that.
There aren't that much of differences in the "have" and "have not" in those industries. UK (because their English language) still contribute somewhat to music industry (their film industry is pretty much gone). France is very sensitive about their French language, culture and film industry --- it's like the third rail for them.
It's easier to negotiate when all the countries have similar levels of industrial development in steel or construction. It is much harder when a few European countries have a lot of world market share in 1 thing and the other 20 European countries don't even register a percentage in market share.
Because you registered with a credit card listed at your UK address perhaps?
Very much so, meaning that I pay UK VAT when I'm in, say, Germany, which isn't legal according to the EU VAT Directive. VAT should be paid at the rate at the location of the purchaser, not the seller.
If the BBC is anything to go by they'll pin the medal on "Which?" (an UK consumer group) for bringing it to the attention of the EU regulators in the first place, and then go on about how the EU is being useful for a change.
It is funny sometimes how the UK media refer to the EU as something that the UK is participating in as a naughty child would stay after school on detention, rather than a "club" to which it willingly joined and pays high annual fees to participate in.
Local Govt. = inept. Regional Govt. = ineffectual. National Govt. = incompetent. See a pattern? Need I go on?
LOL
But as the purchaser, you are using a UK credit card, so your location is recorded as the UK.
If you're in Germany get yourself a German bank account, a German credit card and pay German taxes.
How else are they gonna be able to tell where you actually are, your word? If that were the case everybody would claim to be in the country with a iTMS with the lowest sales tax.
Fair point but your pricing is based on current $2-£1 but these prices were set when the dollar was about $1.61. At that price rate and adding VAT the price comes to 72p
Are Apple expected to track currency fluctuations constantly? What if the Dollar rocketed in value 1-1 with the pound would you proclaim that suddenly we should pay more?
Last summer 2 Belgian business men took the European Union to the European Courts of Justice arguing that wine they bought in France over the net and imported via a 3rd party courier, was illegally subjected to import duties as tax was paid in France on the goods and the goods were for personal use and not for profit. The case they presented was strong and it looked likely they would win after a preliminary hearing ruled in their favour.
However, National Governments- most notably The UK who had the most to lose- lobbied the EU Court that they stood to lose billions, in Excise Duties, if citizens were allowed to buy over the net and import via a 3rd party, alcohol and cigarettes for personal use and pay tax and duties in the Country of origin
So much for a free market economy
And in a free market, a store should be free to choose to charge you a different price than the person standing in line behind you just because they feel like it. As long as you know the price beforehand when selecting the items, and they aren't slapping you with the higher prices at the till...
Sure but, I'll rather have it so that people aren't discriminated on the basis of their nationality.
Also I'll much much rather live in a world where the economies of UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are so connected and co-dependant of each other, due to existence of the single European market, that they couldn't even afford to go war against each other (and drag the whole planet into the mess during that process). Which is the reason why Treaty of Rome exist.
What would the alternative ruling have done to the economies of some EU states? France, being centrally located and with plenty of decent transport infrastructure (paid for in large part by the EU) would suddenly become full of some very large warehouses, while the rest of Europe's retail industry would simply disappear. *France gets rich, is that what you want? rich slimy french men wearing berets in stretched convertible Citroens floating around on lolling soft suspension, munching garlic while their mistresses' armpit hair flows in the wind. Is that what you want, 'casue that's what'll happen.
*about now those with no sense of humour should probably stop reading.
Through cross-hairs frenchie, through cross-hairs.Creepy! It's like you're watching me now.
