Apple's Euro Woes

First it was France. Then Scandinavia. Even Britain's not happy. All in all, Apple is having a helluva time in Europe right now.

Last week, Norway found that by tying its iTunes Music Store downloads to just one player, Apple is in violation of Norwegian law. Furthermore, the Land of the Midnight Sun has threatened to fine Apple if the company doesn't clean up a few issues regarding the iTunes license agreement (for instance, language about changing the terms of the purchase after purchase is complete). This, of course, follows the introduction of a bill in France that would force Apple to sell music that's compatible with all MP3 players.

In an interesting article on BusinessWeek.com this week, one analyst said that while Norway itself is not a major market for Apple, the problem comes if other European countries like Britain join the fight. According to Business Week, Europe is the second-largest market for Apple (behind the Americas), accounting for more than 22 percent of sales for the most recent quarter. And Britain's already peeved because it has to pay more for tunes than other countries in the EU. The article states that Apple is "looking forward to revolving this matter" in Norway. But how it plans to do that, no one knows.

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