Jobs: Record labels 'getting greedy'
The music industry is considering higher prices for downloads, and that would be a big mistake, says Apple's chief.
Record companies have begun rethinking how to price songs sold over Apple's iTunes Internet shop--99 cents each in the United States and 79 pence in Britain--before new contract negotiations come up with the California-based company.
"If they want to raise the prices, it means that they are getting greedy," Jobs, chief executive of Apple, said at a news conference here Tuesday. "If the price goes up, they (consumers) will go back to piracy and everybody loses."
Hit hard over the past five years by the rapid spread of illegal song copying over the Internet, music companies are struggling to revamp their business models as sales shift to more legal digital downloads from the CD format.
Vivendi's Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music are responsible for three out of every four albums sold around the world.
Apple, which Jobs said had more than 80 percent of the U.S. digital music market, unveiled this month the pencil-thin iPod Nano digital music player, which is aimed at securing the company's lead.
Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president of the iPod division, told journalists the company was not planning to add radio features on to its digital player because there was not enough demand for it.
Jobs also cast a skeptical eye on the future of the market for downloading music on mobile handsets.
"It is not clear that buying songs over the air makes economic sense," Jobs said. "I am skeptical because of the cost...but we will see."
Jobs said it was cheaper for consumers to download songs onto their computer than directly onto their mobile phones.
Mobile phone operators, however, expect music downloads to be a significant driver of revenue growth after having invested heavily in technology and infrastructure to support the service.
Jobs declined to say whether Apple was planning to launch an all Apple-made iPod phone after having introduced two weeks ago a music-playing handset developed with Motorola.
"We do not say anything about future products," Jobs said. "We work on them in secret, then we announce them."
On a separate matter, Jobs said Apple was on target to ship computers fitted with Intel chips by June as targeted. "We are on track to do that."