Amazon mounts challenge to the dominance of Itunes
7 April 2009
AMAZON has started a price war with Apple’s iTunes by cutting the cost of many of its top-selling music downloads to 29p.
The online site is selling more than 100 tracks – including Lady GaGa’s Poker Face, Lily Allen’s The Fear and Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody – at 50p less than Apple.
Amazon, which also offers albums for as little as £3, said the reductions would be available indefinitely.
The move comes as Apple is expected to raise prices for some of its bestsellers. From today, it is introducing variable pricing, with many chart hits increasing from the 79p standard rate to 99p.
Amazon’s MP3 site, which launched in December last year, has more than 5 million tracks for sale.
Both sites are facing competition in the downloads market from Spotify and last.fm, which use subscription payments to generate revenue.
Tom Dunmore of gadget magazine Stuff said: “This is the first serious competitor to Apple’s dominance we’ve seen. This could see the start of a price war, and Apple may be forced to counter with its own promotions. This is great news, as consumers are going to see prices drop.”
Julian Monaghan, head of music buying at Amazon.co.uk, said: “Our aim is to always offer the lowest prices and the most comprehensive choice.
“Since our launch four months ago, we have been presenting some great deals while rapidly expanding our catalogue.”
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