But yes, theoretically, if you fund your iTunes account using PayPal, you are using PayPal to pay for your app purchases in the Apple App Store.
So, you're saying that Apple is fully capable of handling payments without knowing the country of the credit card, but has decided not to accept it for some purchases?
This article should be marked as opinion or even hot take. Apart from what other commenters already stated, there are other misunderstood concepts here about Apple app store restrictions:
1) Apple requires the country on your Apple ID account to match the country of the credit card on file. And the App store content is quite different depending on country (which, if you had asked someone from an EU country you would know.).
2) For those still skeptical a simple example of why this is an annoyance: as a EU citizen you travel (visa-free, without a passport - thanks EU!) from Denmark to say, Greece. There, you have NO extra roaming fee (thanks EU!), public health insurance (thanks EU!), and say you want to download the local public transit app for Athens. And surprise surprise, Apple tells you that the app is not available in your country's App store!
From a EU standpoint this is a ridiculous limitatiom, it's non-compliant with single market regulations and the free movement of goods and services across the EU, so of course the European Commission is doing its job by enforcing it. Basically there should be another tier available (call it Region) that developers should take advantage of, instead of only toggling between Global/1 country. It isn't at all that complex and shouldn't be that big of an issue.
The only thing that is "unforgivably naive" is the article itself, poorly researched, quickly written. It is almost as if it were misunderstood on purpose. My perception is that AppleInsider articles on this topic are rather poor in general.
This article should be marked as opinion or even hot take. Apart from what other commenters already stated, there are other misunderstood concepts here about Apple app store restrictions:
1) Apple requires the country on your Apple ID account to match the country of the credit card on file. And the App store content is quite different depending on country (which, if you had asked someone from an EU country you would know.).
2) For those still skeptical a simple example of why this is an annoyance: as a EU citizen you travel (visa-free, without a passport - thanks EU!) from Denmark to say, Greece. There, you have NO extra roaming fee (thanks EU!), public health insurance (thanks EU!), and say you want to download the local public transit app for Athens. And surprise surprise, Apple tells you that the app is not available in your country's App store!
From a EU standpoint this is a ridiculous limitatiom, it's non-compliant with single market regulations and the free movement of goods and services across the EU, so of course the European Commission is doing its job by enforcing it. Basically there should be another tier available (call it Region) that developers should take advantage of, instead of only toggling between Global/1 country. It isn't at all that complex and shouldn't be that big of an issue.
Oh dear. You seem to have fallen into the trap that befalls everyone in the EU... the single market is a mirage. It doesn't really exist. Any business can "choose" to sell its products in any country within the EU - in theory - without any issues. But the critical point is that the business gets to "choose" which countries.
It is NOT a consumer right, it is a business trading ability.
There remain, to this day, additional country level laws that prevent certain goods and services being freely traded within the EU - nuclear technology is a pointed example that overrides EU law. Encryption is another, perhaps more pertinent, example. France, for example, requires additional compliance burdens before selling software within the country that contains any kind of cryptography. That's before we even get to issues of contract law, of which the EU has no legal standing (because it is not a country), it is done at the country level.
Your example is also flawed. It is not Apple that restricts the app, it is the developer - the owner of the app. Apple is simply an intermediary. The developer may have chosen not to list the app in a country's App Store for a variety of reasons (one was outlined above), but it could be for any number of reasons. But as the primary business owners of any app on the App Stores it is not for Apple (or the EU for that matter) to decide what countries the app owner wants to distribute their apps in.
There are many other examples that are not software related, but it all comes down to differences in regulations between the countries of the EU. No amount of shouting that it's a "single market" will change the fact that it really isn't the single market it is made out to be.
Comments
1) Apple requires the country on your Apple ID account to match the country of the credit card on file. And the App store content is quite different depending on country (which, if you had asked someone from an EU country you would know.).
2) For those still skeptical a simple example of why this is an annoyance: as a EU citizen you travel (visa-free, without a passport - thanks EU!) from Denmark to say, Greece. There, you have NO extra roaming fee (thanks EU!), public health insurance (thanks EU!), and say you want to download the local public transit app for Athens. And surprise surprise, Apple tells you that the app is not available in your country's App store!
From a EU standpoint this is a ridiculous limitatiom, it's non-compliant with single market regulations and the free movement of goods and services across the EU, so of course the European Commission is doing its job by enforcing it. Basically there should be another tier available (call it Region) that developers should take advantage of, instead of only toggling between Global/1 country. It isn't at all that complex and shouldn't be that big of an issue.
It is NOT a consumer right, it is a business trading ability.
There remain, to this day, additional country level laws that prevent certain goods and services being freely traded within the EU - nuclear technology is a pointed example that overrides EU law. Encryption is another, perhaps more pertinent, example. France, for example, requires additional compliance burdens before selling software within the country that contains any kind of cryptography. That's before we even get to issues of contract law, of which the EU has no legal standing (because it is not a country), it is done at the country level.
Your example is also flawed. It is not Apple that restricts the app, it is the developer - the owner of the app. Apple is simply an intermediary. The developer may have chosen not to list the app in a country's App Store for a variety of reasons (one was outlined above), but it could be for any number of reasons. But as the primary business owners of any app on the App Stores it is not for Apple (or the EU for that matter) to decide what countries the app owner wants to distribute their apps in.
There are many other examples that are not software related, but it all comes down to differences in regulations between the countries of the EU. No amount of shouting that it's a "single market" will change the fact that it really isn't the single market it is made out to be.