Apple has recently scrapped it’s promise to cut the U.K.’s iTunes prices by the begininning of 2009, despite vowing to match the already standardised pricing on iTunes across Europe in Austria, Belguim, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourge, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain.
Six months ago, when the price cut was initially announced Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced Apple would drop the price from 79p to 74p to be in line with Europe’s 99 Euro cents iTunes price per song. At the time, Jobs described the move as “an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music. We hope every majoy record label will take a pan-European view of pricing.”
Apparently though, the volatility in the world’s economy isn’t only showing at the U.S. gas pump, as the Euro rose in value, decreasing the difference in pricing- i.e. There is no longer a need to create a price cut as exchange rates have done the job for Apple, as 99 Euro now equals 79p.
BBC quotes an Apple representative as saying, “The announcement was that we would match the U.K. price to that of other lower priced European countries. This is no longer necessary as exchange rates have effectively done it for us.” (Surprise, Surprise)
Unfortunately, this does put Apple in the position where their pricing is dictated by international exchange rates rather then their own pricing model, or even demand. The spokesman “was unable to confirm what would happen when the exchange rate changed again, or whether British fans could end up paying more than 79p.” On the other hand, Apple did confirm that they wanted to keep the pan-European prices “standardised”.
Currently, here in the U.S. we pay $.99 per non-premium song on iTunes, which is equivalent to about 49p or 62 Euro cents.
