So who is against monopolies now?

The only thing about the French attitude to competition to appear in this blog in recent times has been the discussion of the GDF/Suez merger in the energy sector, a merger that has largely been seen as a case of economic patriotism. So it was with some scepticism that I read this morning in the FT, and also on BBC News Online that the French Parliament is looking to pass a law to open up the digital music / digital music player market. This would allow iTunes songs to be played on non-Apple MP3 players, and Windows Media files to be played on iPods.

Now, in principle this is all very well – more competition in such a market is probably a good thing. However, on the other hand I am intrinsically a bit nervous about it. Apple’s market position in the music player field is less complete than the position of Windows in the PC market (about 70% vs. about 90%), and there has been little concerted attempt made to deal with the latter.

Last but not least, if Apple was a French company, selling the Pomme Lddem (Lecteur de donnees eletroniques de musique), do you think we would be getting such a law? I doubt it somehow…