Strong euro ends need for iTunes UK price cuts

Apple has canceled its plans to lower the price of songs on the iTunes Store in the United Kingdom due to exchange rate changes. In January, Apple said it would lower the prices it charges for music on its UK iTunes Store to match the already standardized pricing on iTunes across Europe within six months. Songs cost 79p in the UK and 0.99 euros elsewhere in Europe; at the time of the announcement, that was equal to only 74p. Since then, however, the euro’s value has risen and 0.99 euros is now equal to 79p. “The announcement was that we would match the UK price to that of other lower priced European countries,” an Apple spokesman told BBC News. “This is no longer necessary as exchange rates have effectively done it for us.” The spokesman could not say what would happen should the exchange rate change again, but noted that Apple wants to keep the pan-European prices “standardized.”