Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is launching a new iTunes service. If a consumer owns a song downloaded to an iPod for the $.99 fee, that user can get the whole album for $9.99. Any songs on the album count as a $.99 credit toward the total price if they were purchased in the preceding 180 days.
The new service is called "Complete My Album." The only little catch is that any $.99 song being used for a credit must have been purchased from iTunes.
Apple is already in hot water in France for not allowing its iPod to play music from other devices. The Financial Times puts the French objection this way: "The competition policy bureaucrats squeeze Apple's achievement into this box: they sell a product that is so popular it is dominant; this market power is then exploited by excluding rivals from using its software (iTunes) . . ."
The album deal creates a similar problem. The record company and artist do a deal with Apple. But the sale of an entire album may be blocked because the first song downloaded from it went through a service other than iTunes. In addition, the only way a consumer gets the good deal is if they use iTunes from end to end.
Reuters reports that the problems in France have now spread to other countries in Europe: "European Union consumer chief Meglena Kuneva has hit out at Apple Inc.'s bundling of its popular iPod music players and its iTunes online music store."
The new "Complete My Album" program may make a tempting target for the antitrust wrecking crews.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-29-2007 @ 2:22PM
C Grimm said...
Read what Meglena Kuneva really said.
"The European Union's consumer chief soft-pedalled her views on Apple Inc. on Tuesday, backing off the line that its iTunes online music store must become more compatible with other formats," Reuters reports.
Reuters reports, "Meglena Kuneva told a news conference there was no reason to talk about legal action against the U.S. computer and technology company and that she merely wanted to raise questions. 'I would like, really, to start this debate. What is best to develop this market and to have more consumers enjoying this really very important, very modern way of downloading and enjoying the music?' she said of Apple's iTunes."
Kuneva also confirmed that European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has found no reason to take legal action against Apple on allegations that the company is illegally forcing market development with its refusal to license its FairPlay DRM, in order that iTunes purchase play on third-party devices
Proof that Douglas McIntyre is a tool of the short sellers in that he always spins the story to the negative with selective quotes and misinformation?
On second thought maybe he's just a Communist