“In a relatively rare appearance outside of company events, Apple chief Steve Jobs has attended a European Union roundtable discussing the legal hurdles to pan-European online retailing,” Aidan Malley reports for AppleInsider.
“The continent-wide governmental body didn’t outline Jobs’ particular reason for being at the event, though the question of online music stores is known to be one of the key issues; the European Commission has criticized both Apple and major labels such as EMI, which also attended the event, for unfair iTunes pricing that charges residents of some countries more for the same content,” Malley reports.
Malley reports, “All of the involved parties were asked to submit comments on an EU paper discussing the issues before October 15th, 2009.”
Full article, including photo of Jobs at meeting, here.
Wasn’t Apple dictated the pricing by the labels in the different countries, or was that just the list of “artists”?
more likely its different tax rates. Some countries have very high tax rates, so the price is going to be higher. So thats why the price is higher for some, why charge the high price to everyone when their tax rate is lower.
Steve looks good and even looks like he’s put on a pounds or two.
If Steve put on a pound or two, wouldn’t that be almost double or quadruple his salary?
From the post:
“…those at the roundtable included Rolling Stones lead singer Sir Mick Jagger and the heads of other major technology firms, including Alcatel-Lucent and eBay. However, it wasn’t difficult to determine which one was Jobs — he was the only one wearing a black mock turtleneck instead of a suit.”
So Mick Jagger was wearing a suit? That’s the picture I’d like to see
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Steve’s airplane has to stay warmed up…every now and then he needs to use it. Wonder if Mick has his own jet? I can see the lip logo on it now.
I’d rather see him in a suit than on a nude beach.
October 15th, 2009? They are going to let it go on this way for more than a year?
Apple would be gladest of all to sell everything at a same price in all the countries.
Still looks thin, iSteve Nano?
It’s October 15th, 2008
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1338&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr
Oh well. I was hoping to read that he became irate at someone and beat them up.
Neelie Kroes is doing a great job. The issue of focus is a serious one, and resolution would greatly benefit consumers and Apple. I, for one, am very pleased by this initiative. The internet is riddled by ridiculous restrictions that prevent one from accessing products and services available in one country but not in others.
I wish he would wear a suit sometimes, regardless of iconic status and his uniform, he would just look better. When he introduced the Mac, he wore a tuxedo.
Neelie Kroes is doing some great work promoting markets.