BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - The European Commission said Apple Inc responded to a midnight deadline yesterday in relation to antitrust concerns over the pricing of songs on its iTunes online music store.
'They answered yesterday and we are studying (the response) carefully at this point,' a commission spokesperson said.
The commission is concerned that iTunes' set-up in the European market prohibits users in one country from downloading music from a website intended to serve another.
Customers are then affected by the pricing differences between the eurozone and elsewhere.
The EU executive sent a statement of objections to Apple and unnamed 'major record companies' in April, giving all parties two months to reply.
At the start of this month, the commission extended a deadline for Apple and the record companies to respond to concerns to June 20 after an original deadline expired.
The commission said one record company responded before the first deadline, set for midnight on June 4, while two others, including Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, were granted an extension until June 29.
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