Euro iTMS mid-June!

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
New sources indicate that we should see a Europe iTMS in mid-June!



link

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    homhom Posts: 1,098member
    The article implies that it will launch in the UK, Germany, and France. I wonder how Apple is going to work out the currency differences. 99¢ in the US, £ .99 in the UK, and ? .99 in France and Germany? I'm not an expert in EU trade agreements by a long shot, but doesn't the EU require that there be free trade between the countries? Could people in Greece demand access to the French or German store?



    I would love some guidance from some of our well informed European members on this.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    haraldharald Posts: 2,152member
    Good question.



    I guess that Apple will say "We're a US company ... we operate from Cali so tough titty!" I suppose Apple can do what it likes in this regard ...
  • Reply 3 of 7
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Given Apple's stated goal of having iTMS be as contractually simple as possible, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being one European store, dispensing songs in Euros. Since Apple controls the client app, language localization shouldn't be that tough a nut to crack.



    I'm not sure how they'd accomodate the British Isles, though, because I don't know how closely England and Ireland are wedded to the EU. I assume that they'd prefer that the store dealt in pounds and pence, but would a Euro-based store fly?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    macsrgood4umacsrgood4u Posts: 3,007member
    It doesn't really matter where the on line store operates from. It's a matter of how payments are made to the various record labels which are sometimes different then in the U.S. There's also other taxes, etc. that each country accesses on recordings. I'm not sure there will be a single store for Germany, France and the UK. Each county has a different language (natch), different favorite artists, etc. I look for 3 separate stores accessible on each country's Apple site, just like the U.S. store is accessible through Apple.com here.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorph

    Given Apple's stated goal of having iTMS be as contractually simple as possible, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being one European store, dispensing songs in Euros. Since Apple controls the client app, language localization shouldn't be that tough a nut to crack.



    I'm not sure how they'd accomodate the British Isles, though, because I don't know how closely England and Ireland are wedded to the EU. I assume that they'd prefer that the store dealt in pounds and pence, but would a Euro-based store fly?




    Nah, and Euro based store wouldn't fly. The prices for milk in Spain aren't the same as in Germany for example. So you need to differentiate between countries. Switzerland is in Europe, but not a member of the EU. And so we need to have a separate store too here. \
  • Reply 6 of 7
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorph

    Given Apple's stated goal of having iTMS be as contractually simple as possible, I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being one European store, dispensing songs in Euros. Since Apple controls the client app, language localization shouldn't be that tough a nut to crack.



    I'm not sure how they'd accomodate the British Isles, though, because I don't know how closely England and Ireland are wedded to the EU. I assume that they'd prefer that the store dealt in pounds and pence, but would a Euro-based store fly?




    iPhoto deals with your local currency nicely - ? in Euro countries, £ in GB, DKK in Denmark and SEK in Sweden.



    iPhoto looks at you Apple account and bill you according to that.



    My guess is that iTMS Europe will be one store, and since you have to log in, it can bill you in your local currency (and it would even be possible to have certain songs appearing in certain countries - it is a database afterall ).



    My guess is a song price at ?.89 plus your local taxes.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    smirclesmircle Posts: 1,035member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Harald

    I guess that Apple will say "We're a US company ... we operate from Cali so tough titty!" I suppose Apple can do what it likes in this regard ...



    They can't do that. If you sell stuff here, you are bound by Euro laws (eg. MS anti-trust case). Allofmp3.com and some other download services that operate in a grey zone can do this only because they have no subsidiaries outside their home country.



    It will be interesting to watch. Pricing is very different between member states, and at least until now, the EU has not passed any regulation I am aware of. They did however look into the different pricing most car manufacturers offer.



    I believe that if the local content licensing organizations try to force Apple into offering very different prices for the different countries, the EU could look at this. After all, even if our british friends won't believe me, the EU was founded as a free-trade union first and foremost. Angering Brits with complicated regulations is only a secondary goal
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