"This is news from Apple," says Consumer Ombudsman Thon. Furthermore, he´s pleased Apple takes the dispute with European consumer authorities seriously - enough to make the head of the company make the statement he made yesterday.

In his article, Jobs blames the record companies for insisting on the restrictive DRM system iTunes uses today, making it necessary for iTunes to digitally program iTunes music to only be played on Apple´s own iPod player. "We will have a meeting with the record industry shortly to get the other side of this argument," Thon says.

The Norwegian Consumer Ombundsman has over the past year spearheaded a still widening alliance of European consumer authorities and organizations that oppose iTunes´ DRM system. In addition to the interlocking of iTunes music and iPod players, European consumer authorities are also concerned about other clauses in iTunes contracts that place customers in a disadvantaged position when dealing with iTunes. This past January, Germany and France, two of Europe´s largest markets for downloaded music, also joined the campaing to make iTunes´ music downloads more consumer friendly.

"I´m looking forward to seeing what iTunes, in light of Jobs´ article, will respond to the European demand for more consumer friendly downloading of iTune music by September," says Thon.

The Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman is prepared to take iTunes before the Market Council unless agreement is reached with the company this spring or summer.