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iTunes(UK) Targeted By The Office of Fair Trading

Posted by timothy on from the they-say-that-ones-cow-is-a-man dept.

dreadz1 writes "It seems that Apple is under fire for overpricing it's iTunes music for UK customers. This story from the BBC says that here in the UK we are charged 20% more for music on iTunes than the French and the Germans. Should Apple lower its initial price so that the cost+VAT is equivalent to prices in the EuroZone or should we grow up and get used to the fact that things are priced differently in different places?"

11 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. just switch to the bloody euro by prof_peabody · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you switched to the euro you wouldn't have this problem. Seems obvious enough to me and the rest of europe...

    1. Re:just switch to the bloody euro by silicon+not+in+the+v · · Score: 5, Funny
      They would have an argument if they were overcharging on real CDs. However, a digital download costs the same to send to Germany or the UK, so why the discrepancy? It's profiteering isn't it?
      The UK is on an island. Of course it's going to cost more for them to import the files across the ocean/channel to the local Apple servers. Remember, as the RIAA has told us, a download is the same as a physical CD.
      --
      We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
    2. Re:just switch to the bloody euro by 42forty-two42 · · Score: 2, Funny
      Yes - we should give up our independence and freedom in order to secure (slightly) cheaper music. Brilliant.

      Well, it worked for the US.
  2. An Americans perspective by falcon5768 · · Score: 2, Funny

    here is my thing... what is the VAT? If its a sales tax, other than the exchange rate being weird... I dont understand why its a problem, we have to pay taxes too so .99 never really = .99 here, its more like a dollar annd change. But from my understanding your inflation rate is insain... A lot of my friends and even my sister complained about it last time they where there how 100 our dollars barely got you anything. So maybe I would look into why the inflation rate is so bad before I would blame a outside group.

    --

    "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

  3. as an American... by syrinx · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd like to apologize for all the Americans saying stupid things in this discussion. We're sorry. We sadly can't keep our more ignorant members of our country out of these things. Please don't assume all Americans can't comprehend things like "exchange rates", and also probably couldn't find their own country on a map.

    Thanks again!

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
    1. Re:as an American... by tbone1 · · Score: 2, Funny
      Everything comes at a price, and it's all part of the price we pay for freedom of expression. I wish sometimes it didn't involve Oprah Winfrey fans, but there it is. Besides, didn't the Europeans send all their criminals and religious loonies to the colonies here, unless they were in the government already? They are the ones who should apologize.

      --

      The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
  4. Price too high? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If your prices are too high from taxes, might I suggest throwing boxes of tea into the Thames?

    1. Re:Price too high? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Or boxes of iPods.

  5. Does it go both ways? by YouHaveSnail · · Score: 2, Funny

    So, let's say for the moment that Apple acquiesces and drops the iTunes per-song rate so that it's the same as in France and Germany. Can Apple then get a guarantee from the UK government that the cost of doing business in the UK will be the same as that in France and Germany?

    And why look at just France and Germany, btw? Given that 1 euro is currently worth slightly more than 1 US dollar, you can make a solid case that European customers still pay more than Americans. Will the UK Office of Fair Trade again take Apple to task for charging a higher price in the UK than it does in some other country?

    If I were Apple, I'd take that deal and then insist that workers in the UK charge more per hour than workers in Indonesia, and landlords charge more per square foot than do landlords in Siberia, and ask them to make sure that I got the same deal in the UK that I can get elsewhere.

    Who knows? This could be an end to any problems the UK might currently have with outsourcing. They could call it the "Bring the Third World Home" intiative.

  6. And in other news... by dr_erick · · Score: 1, Funny

    the OFT will begin charging 7% VAT on all imported heroin next week.

  7. It's just simple revenge... by pukwudgee · · Score: 3, Funny

    They overcharged us for tea, now we're overcharging them for Ice-T