Apple has announced that it will be standardizing the prices of music on the European iTunes service over the next six months. This means that the UK iTunes store will be dropping its prices to match those found in other pan-European areas.

Want to find our more? Head on over to the full article for the complete story.

Looks like the most popular gadget in Europe this Christmas is the Wii if online searches are anything to judge by. According to the figures released by comScore Inc., the gadgets most frequently searched for in online engines in Europe during the first three weeks of November is the Nintendo Wii followed by the iPod. Next comes the DS lite, the PSP and the iPhone. More in the full article.

Apple confirmed today that it has picked France-leading wireless carrier Orange as their official partner for the iPhone launch in the said market on November 29. This seems to be a good move from Apple especially after the mobile phone unlocking incident.

"The iPhone is a marvelous product and will change how people think about mobile... Our partnership with Apple is a natural fit because we are two global brands who share the same values of simplicity and innovation. It's going to be a very merry Christmas for Orange customers all over the country," said France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard.

As stated above, the iPhone will launch in France on November 29. The only model that will be available is the 8GB iPhone and it will be priced at 399 Euros (US$ 568.87). Consumers can purchase their unit through Orange's online and direct retail stores.

Despite Apple's constant reminders regarding the irreparable damage that can be caused by iPhone hacks, the underground community remains adamant and keeps on finding ways to pass through the security features of the mobile phone.

Just like now, we got word that third-party programs were already ported to iPhone running on firmware 1.1.1. The hacker responsible for this latest development goes by the user name asap18 and the picture on the right is the proof of his work.

The home screen can now reportedly hold up to 15 icons with the last one reserved for iTunes. Both the official and third-party programs have been tested and are working fine. Furthermore, reports added that sap18 was able to access an option that will allow users International capabilities in Springboard.

When developed to the fullest, this may lead to foreign language application support for the phone in countries like Germany and France.

We got word that telecommunications company O2, which is owned by Spain's Telefonica, has just secured the exclusive UK rights to offer the Apple iPhone. If you're wondering about the T-Mobile contract, it turns out that it's only good in its home country of Germany and not for the whole of Europe.

The terms of the agreement are still not clear but according to the Times Online, the two companies will have a continuing share of the revenues generated by each iPhone customer. Also, O2's own network will be modified to accommodate the iPhone. The UK has a mobile phone consumer base of 18 million.

Apple is also having on-going negotiations with different companies in other countries in the continent and that more contracts are likely to be signed soon. Those in the know are saying that for France, the iPhone is likely to be distributed by company Orange.

Lastly, it was reported as well that rival phone manufacturers are preparing new lines of mobile phones geared to kill the iPhone fever for Vodafone as well as other telecommunications firms. The Apple iPhone is expected to arrive in UK this December with a price tag of GBP 300 GBP or roughly US$ 604.

According to the online website of German newspaper Rheinische Post, Europe will soon be getting the newly-released iPhone as Apple just inked a deal with Deutsche Telekom's mobile phone unit T-Mobile. The said daily revealed that the mobile phone will be available on November 1 for 450 Euros (US$ 612).

Much like the deal with AT&T, the contract with T-Mobile is also an exclusive one and is likely to last for two years as well. Rheinische Post added that it tried to contact representatives of T-Mobile but was unable to do so. Prior to this, other companies trying to get an iPhone deal with Apple include:

• Britain's Vodafone Group
• Paris-based France Telecom
• Spain's Telefonica

One Apple analyst in Germany commented that this partnership will definitely boosts the revenues of Deutsche Telekom, citing that the iPhone will be as massive as the iPod when it first came to Europe.

Annual event Apple Expo is generally considered as the European counterpart of Macworld Expo. Both events boast of sales conference and technology exposition organized by Apple and some other exhibitors. To those of you who have been following this, be informed that registration for Apple Expo 2007 is now open.

As always, the show will be held in Paris France, specifically in Porte de Versailles. It will run from September 25 to 29 and entrance fees are pegged at 12 Euros or roughly around US$ 16.33 for each individual. We looked at the conference's official site for further info but Apple hasn't listed any yet.

We believe that this year's event is going to be very exciting. Last year's expo saw the introduction of two new iPods as well as a new iMac. And you might be intrigued to know that Apple Expo 2005 didn't have any keynote speeches and Apple didn't drop big bombs save for a lone .mac bundle. So this could mean that they're saving their big guns for this year.

The Read link should take you to the event's site where you can register and read other details.

A bizarre thing happens to European patrons of iTunes online music stores. When a European consumer buys music from the iTunes Belgian store, for example, they may only use a credit card issued by the bank with an address in Belgium. Because of this territorial restrictions, consumers are then limited in their freedom to purchase the songs they want, and where they want it bought. As such, the European commission has opened an antitrust probe into Apple's iTunes and the way it sells music online in coordination with major music companies.

The EU Commission does this probe amidst complaints from consumer groups coming from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Nordic countries. Such groups have demanded Apple to change the rules it imposes on its online music stores.

Apple, meanwhile, responds that the company actually wants to operate a single store for all of Europe. But publishers and music labels alike won't have any of this, as they believe Apple's rights are not all-encompassing. Spokesman Steve Dowling says Apple does not believe it did anything to violate the EU law.

Apple has been given a "statement of objections" by the EU Commission. The electronics giant has two months to answer the questions issued in the letter. If found guilty, Apple may be forced to part with as much as 10 percent of its total world income to pay for the EU fines.

Germany, France, Finland and Norway have decided to put together a collective stand against Apple's policies on iTunes songs being playable only on the IT giant's popular iPod mp3 players.

The four nations say that the download system used by Apple does not give way to the liberalization of the digital content market and threatened to take legal action if Apple refuses to budge until October 1.

"Do you think it's fine that a CD plays in all CD players but that an iTunes song only plays in an iPod? I don't. Something has to change," said Meglena Kuneva, EU's Consumer Protection Commissioner. He seconded the argument of the European countries that Apple's digital rights protection system prevents the copying of audio files between consumers and bars them from using their iTunes on other mp3 players.

Apple has not been available for comments on the matter. We'll keep you posted for the latest developments.

Apple seems to have found an ally in the person of Justice Department antitrust chief Thomas Barnett regarding the issue of iTunes' exclusive technology. Raising the issue in a speech at an antitrust law conference in Washington, DC, Barnett urged foreign governments to take caution before interfering with popular new technologies, such as the iTunes online music service.

Recently, Apple has been under fire as several European governments like Scandinavia and France were pushing for legislation that would compel Apple to permit iTunes music to play on devices other than its iPod. According to them, what Apple is doing is practically monopolizing the technology, which could be bad in itself, as they are limiting the multi-faceted benefits that they could all incur via the technology-sharing.

However, Barnett said the scrutiny of Apple "provides a useful illustration of how an attack on intellectual property rights can threaten dynamic innovation." Instead, he surmises, Apple should be commended for coming up with a "legal, profitable and easy-to-use system for downloading music and encourage rival companies to 'devote their resources to legal challenges rather than business innovation'."

Barnett's concern cannot be said to be unfounded. Seeing how Apple was revived as a top name in entertainment, it probably wouldn't do much good to see their efforts going to waste because other people wants to break their technology down. It's like punishing them for having a brilliant idea and actually bringing it to life. Given that it was their idea in the first place, I don't see why they can't be selfish about it. In fact, it can prove to be beneficial for the industry as other companies will be pushed to innovate on their own, thus starting a healthy competition. At the end of the day, it is not only the creativity of the industries that will boom, but more importantly, consumer-satisfaction. And isn't that what we really want?