APPLE - LOWER PRICES FOR ITUNES

LOWER PRICES FOR ITUNES

Apple has announced that it will lower prices for iTunes music in the UK within the next six months.

The technology firm said its price changes are in order to bring the situation in Britain in line with the rest of Europe, where prices are already standardised.

As part of its pricecutting plan, Apple has said that it will "reconsider its continuing relationship" with record companies who charge higher wholesale prices in the UK than elsewhere in Europe.

Standardised prices are already in existence in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain.

"This is an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music," Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said.

"We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing."

British music-buyers are currently expected to pay 79p for a song on iTunes, but this will drop to about 66p under the new plans.

The European Commission has been pushing for standardised prices across the continent since launching an investigation on the matter last April.