France takes on Apple

France is continuing its campaign against America's domination of the internet.

After Jaques Chirac, the French president, unveiled a plan to take on Google, French lawmakers are expected to deal a blow to Apple's dominance of the online music market today by breaking the exclusive link between the company's iTunes internet music store and iPod players in the country.

The question is, will such a move ultimately benefit consumers?

Currently, software included in tracks downloaded from the iTunes site prevents them being played on anything but an iPod. The music players' massive popularity has, in effect, made Apple's system the global standard for the rapidly expanding digital download market. Apple says it sells more than three million songs a day on iTunes. In some markets it accounts for more than 70 per cent of online music sales.

The French move, prompted by fears of an American company building up an unassailable monopoly, could radically shake up internet music sales by forcing Apple to open up its copy-protection technology. Moreover, the French Culture Ministry has urged the rest of the European Union to follow suit.

Interoperability sounds like a very good thing. But regrettably, what the eventual impact will be on consumers is not cut and dried.

For one thing, the fall of iTunes would be welcomed by the major record labels, who are deeply unhappy about Apple's strength. Universal Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music and EMI have repeatedly called for Apple to sell individual songs at a range of prices - to maximise their profits.

Apple has so far held to its flat pricing policy, under which all tracks are sold for 99 cents in the US and 79p in the UK. How long would it continue doing so if it had to open its system to the world?

Comments

[Richard Johnson]

No, typical French arrogance. Apple invented this whole market, took the risks, spent the money (when everyone was laughing at them) so they should reap the rewards.

[Simon Eriksson]

People can very easily get any song in the universal mp3 format should they wish, so what is the point of this?

Simply France legislating for its own purely nationalistic ends.

For that reason alone I hope it fails.

[Joe C]

As long as the French impose the same restrictions on all media providers equally, including French media outlets, there is nothing wrong with open standards. My fear is that France is trying to "make everything in France French", and not allow protection for copyrighted material. If the French want to remove protection from DVDs and on-line music, they must make the fines and punishment for circumventing the copyrights (not the encryption) VERY steep. If they do that, then you will see that they are serious about protecting intellectual property. Maybe we could take a tour of the Louvre and take high resolution pictures of the art there, then place posters or copies of the art in our homes and pay no fees...

[Tim]

Although it pains me to do so, I agree with the French Government on this one. Despite dedicating decades to propagating a public image of being the 'anti-Microsoft', our friends at Apple are at least as keen as Gates et al to build an exclusive monopoly to allow them to shake down their customers for a few more quid.

Apple's approach to customer service demonstrates this arrogance - ask any of the 30 people typically queuing in Apple's store on Regent Street with a broken product, who will shortly be told that the staff don't have time to help them.

If their products are good, they need not fear competition.

[Caveman]

Why does France have do be so protective of its market? There is no problem with Apple's policies: it has a music store which provides files for its product. There are no compliance complaints about PlayStation games not working on Xboxes. That would be ridiculous, so why should a iTunes file work on anything else? iTunes is primarily associated with the iPod as they were made for each other.

This is just another example of France's over-protective and restrictive market.

[Mark Anthony]

I don't understand why Apple's greedy monopoly was allowed to get this far. Congratulations to the French for attempting to stop it.

[Jerry Confer]

Typical of the French to try to screw up the free market, in which they compete so poorly. I hope Apple tells them to suck eggs.

[Stephen F]

Rather than forcing Apple to reveal its technology to other music sites, I would rather that they forced Apple to make iPods play Windows Media files. This is what the majority of my music is stored as. I therefore can't use an iPod unless I convert all my music which would take an age (There's more than 30GB of it!). That would also result in a loss of quality.

[John]

This is all so very typically French. They can’t compete in the open marketplace, so they pass a new law to force a hard-working US company to give a French company their trade secrets.

This is a small example of why the French fail so often. Let the open marketplace determine the success or failure of any business ideas.

[TubaBob]

Seems like free enterprise is a good thing until somebody cries 'monopoly'.

If someone in France (or elsewhere) build a better system and consumers like it they will respond. Otherwise quit whining simply because someone else thought of it first or was the first to get it to market.

Let the market decide and evolve without the interference of individuals who neither create nor make anything of their own.

[Norm Miller]

Apple's 'closed' iTunes is not about greed. The company's margins are razor thin on music downloads. They have the same approach to their computers and operating systems, which only has around 3 per cent of marketshare. Their closed systems are about control of user experience and usability, which is what they do oh so well. As another person mentioned, with their easy-to-use software it's very easy to share songs you download on iTunes with your other devices by making them into the 'universal' MP3 file format. This should not be an issue, so I encourage Apple to drop the French market if the French decide to limit the availability of such a great solution to their public.

[webstyr]

H*ll No! Hey, we're in a free-market world here. If France is concerned about Apple building a monopoly, then they should get off their lazy backsides and build a better mousetrap.

There are no laws that prohibit inovation in France, are there? Apple isn't trying to pass laws in France to prohibit or prevent anyone from coming up with something better than the iPod/iTunes/iTunes Music Store trifecta.

Hey, this is capitalisim at its finest. Suvival of the fittest and all that jazz. France, I have one thing to say to you. Lead, or fall in line!

[donsurber]

I am encouraged by the pro-capitalism remarks which I merely second

[Claudia Moore]

Yes. I think that a competitive market is always interesting to the public and even to the companies, even if they have to share their secrets. I think that monopolies are interesting only to the companies that dominate the market. When a market is open, many people can develop a wide range of solutions for the same necessity, which always generates good ideas, new jobs, new companies, etc.

[lawrence hill]

As always, its not as simple as that. The French have the wrong targets. It is the record companies that insist on Apple, Sony and Microsoft's use of DRM, and the fact that they can't agree on a standard is simply because it's not in their interests to do so. The record companies think that DRM and prosecuting their own customers will keep their cosy business model alive long after the technology has overtaken them. However, technology (such as DRM) is not the answer. The answer is to work out how to compensate the artist/copyright holder and give the paying customer what they want.

I want to be able to buy music at a fair price and play it wherever and whenever and on whatever I want. Apple, for their sins, are currently giving me the closest to that ideal, why should they be penalised for doing it?

[john]

What is the next step, subsidised (by Apple, of course) i-Pods for the poor? Typical socialist theft.

[Jonny Boy]

I applaud the French Government's stance against unfair competition and monopolistic practices. For that reason alone, I suggest we nationalise all English utility companies in which EDF, France Telecom or any other French government-controlled organisation has a controlling share, until they float 100 per cent to market. It's not about nationalism, honestly! It's about opening your markets. Where can I buy those EDF shares, anyway? Oh no, that's right, I can't - but they can own London Electricity. Hmmm. Seem like egalite isn't quite what it used to be, n'est-ce pas mes gars?

[Stu Samuels]

Maybe if the French could compete more forcefully they wouldn't seek to steal the prize from winners such as Apple and Microsoft. Such is the weakness of socialism: it levels the playing field until everybody is lying down and relaxing instead of standing up and working. No wonder they're satisfied with some of Europe's highest unemployment rates.

[Shamalama]

A private company is going to be forced, by law, to reveal the inner workings of its products? Why, therefore, should any private company spend any time or effort building something other than a wood block?

"...proprietary technologies must not pose an obstacle..."

But I thought "proprietary", by definition, meant "exclusive legal right" and included "secret" and "patent to only one". Capitalism aside, this is pure lunacy, and it reeks of infantile whining. "If I can't have one, then you can't have one either."

Not only is France of the Old World, they're stuck in the Dark Ages. Has no one sent them a new calendar showing the year to be 2006? Where has France been hiding while the rest of the world evolved?

I vote that Apple not sell any more iPods in France, and that places like eBay and Amazon not ship iPods to French addresses. Let the French develop their own media player that only they can use, and watch them whither further into irrelevance.

Ignore them and they will go away.

[Ben]

I think the idea isn't that bad after all. Yes, it is possible to convert any iTunes downloaded songs to another format but how many people know how to do that? Ask my girlfriend about this and she will look at you like you speak Chinese.

The other thing is that the French had mp3 players long before the iPod came out. Ever heard about Archos? They are open-format products.

This said, iTunes and the iPod are amazing marketing products. So well done Apple and may they succeed. Thanks to the French for combining both worlds!

[Norm Miller]

To the poster who asks how many people know how to convert to an MP3, the solution is burn a CD with the one-click button in iTunes. The CD can then be played on any device that plays CDs, which of course includes computers that import audio from CDs in mp3 format. I think everyone knows how to burn and import a CD.

[DS]

Its a brave move by France and one which should be supported, though who then gets market monopoly on a box of tools to provide (what will in effect be) circumvention of these formats is another battle. Apple, Microsoft and Real cannot restrict fair use any longer and record companies cannot avoid a format-free licence system. Both parties must strive to provide value in their DRM if they are to make it work. This can only be achieved with powerful b2b networking and standards compliance.