Apple exists outside America - does it?
So, here I am in sunny London and wondering what does this Key Note do for me? Apple TV and iPhone...
Great BUT iTunes outside the US has no film or TV content and despite being told last September this would change, nothing has. What video based content is my Apple TV good for then???
The iPhone looks great and I will buy one BUT we are going to have to wait almost a year for the chance.
Apple is a forward thinking company, it just seems to be an 'inward' looking business now. Life goes on outside the US (I own a home there before anyone declares me xenophobic). It's about time the guys in Cupertino used those great Google Maps to see that rest of the world is waiting for Apple to wake up and recognise this.
I'm less likely to buy from iTunes or even get Apple TV if this isn't sorted out!
Great BUT iTunes outside the US has no film or TV content and despite being told last September this would change, nothing has. What video based content is my Apple TV good for then???
The iPhone looks great and I will buy one BUT we are going to have to wait almost a year for the chance.
Apple is a forward thinking company, it just seems to be an 'inward' looking business now. Life goes on outside the US (I own a home there before anyone declares me xenophobic). It's about time the guys in Cupertino used those great Google Maps to see that rest of the world is waiting for Apple to wake up and recognise this.
I'm less likely to buy from iTunes or even get Apple TV if this isn't sorted out!
Comments
TV-series isn't Apple's problem, it's the producers who don't want them to be downloaded outside USA, because then they can't sell them expensive to European TV-stations.
The iPhone will come to Europe, but one problem is that european carriers are a bit more advanced than their american counterparts. We actually have, and use, 3G. even 3.5G. We use videochat. To make the iPhone popular here, at least in Sweden, it would need to be 3G. Not many buys a GSM phone nowadays.
So, here I am in sunny London and wondering what does this Key Note do for me? Apple TV and iPhone...
Great BUT iTunes outside the US has no film or TV content and despite being told last September this would change, nothing has. What video based content is my Apple TV good for then???
The iPhone looks great and I will buy one BUT we are going to have to wait almost a year for the chance.
Apple is a forward thinking company, it just seems to be an 'inward' looking business now. Life goes on outside the US (I own a home there before anyone declares me xenophobic). It's about time the guys in Cupertino used those great Google Maps to see that rest of the world is waiting for Apple to wake up and recognise this.
I'm less likely to buy from iTunes or even get Apple TV if this isn't sorted out!
I feel your pain! I live in Japan and know that the communication business is a monopoly! That's one of the biggest drawbacks to foreign locations!
Well, movies should come during 2007. That's promised. It has only been 10 days of 356 so far, so, chill?
TV-series isn't Apple's problem, it's the producers who don't want them to be downloaded outside USA, because then they can't sell them expensive to European TV-stations.
The iPhone will come to Europe, but one problem is that european carriers are a bit more advanced than their american counterparts. We actually have, and use, 3G. even 3.5G. We use videochat. To make the iPhone popular here, at least in Sweden, it would need to be 3G. Not many buys a GSM phone nowadays.
I wouldn't say videochat is used in Finland, even though some of the newest phones are capable. But!
This if anything must work with a packet switched network. GPRS or 3G, I don't care. If it's on the network 24/7 or not has a bigger impact than mere transfer speeds. If it is, you can have normal email, Skype, instant messaging, IRC, instant notifications of any events your computer knows about... with minuscule data costs even if you pay by the bits and not a fixed price for data. The Yahoo push IMAP service shown in Macworld is useless when the device could be polling any IMAP server by itself every fifteen minutes or so.
Apple is definitely ignoring some markets. Despite the popularity of the iPod, they have absolutely no advertising or other presence here in Finland. A handful of retailers carry Apple products and that's it. Apple Store only has service in English, not that it bothers me, but surely is an obstacle to some people. Prices are terrible. Students get a flat 5% discount on computers, nothing on accessories. There are no special offers whatsoever, not in Apple Store, not in retail. There are no refurbished machines. When there is a computer update, the old models drop in price so little that they are considerably worse deals than the brand new one.
Have any of you who complain about Apple in foreign markets stopped to think that maybe the regulatory environment of your nation might have something to do with the roll out of these services? I know to get the music stores done, Apple had to deal with a myriad of laws in Europe alone.
Exactly.
I'm sure we will see multiple iPhones to support the different wireless communication standards (GSM, CDMA, 4G (UMB). I am disappointed that the iPhone is a 2G phone (GSM, EDGE, and GRPS) but remember, this won't ship until June... things can change. For instance the original iMac was announced with a 33.3k modem it ended up with a 56k modem when it shipped. Now that's not a huge change, but it helps to illustrate my point that the specs we have right now aren't final. Apple can release multiple iPhones (even if they only have the 2G phone for America).
Just to illustrate your point, Apple iPhone carrier partner is Cingular at announcement time. By the time the iPhone is available for sale, the partner will be AT&T (Cingular's new name).
Exactly.
The point is, Apple could go international at the same time if it wanted to. There are legislations, etc. the the US, I mean look at the FCC approval for the iPhone. Apple could get all of the bureaucracy out of the way beforehand if it wanted to?these processes don?t take that long. We had to wait a year and a bit for the iTunes Store here in the UK?a similar wait will probably be in place for movies and TV shows. We already have to wait 6 months longer for the iPhone.
Despite this, Apple can launch a product like the Apple TV in the UK and US at the same time without even a mention on the UK home page. I wonder why that is. Lack of actual content, perhaps? We?re mostly stuck with the periphery functions.
Apple and it?s products are great, but it?s very US-centric. I know, I know, it?s an American company, but when you cross US borders your customers should really be treated equally. Apple has no real prescence here in the UK, no development, no labs, etc. The only buildings it has are brick-and-mortar stores. International companies like Apple need to be truly international.
Come on Jonny Ive, you?re letting the side down!
BTW, on the AppleTV, there aren't many iTunes Store movies for Americans either. But there is still iTunes music, iPhoto photos, and of course movies that you yourself download or rip. Purchased iTunes movies are hardly the only content available for AppleTV.
Apple is definitely ignoring some markets. Despite the popularity of the iPod, they have absolutely no advertising or other presence here in Finland. A handful of retailers carry Apple products and that's it. Apple Store only has service in English, not that it bothers me, but surely is an obstacle to some people.
I'm surprised to hear you don't have a localized shop. I admit that Finnish isn't that widespread, but still. Wouldn't it be a solution if they offered a swedish shop? Or perhaps that would be a problem, with Sweden being outside of the Euro zone...
Well, movies should come during 2007. That's promised. It has only been 10 days of 356 so far, so, chill?
TV-series isn't Apple's problem, it's the producers who don't want them to be downloaded outside USA, because then they can't sell them expensive to European TV-stations.
The iPhone will come to Europe, but one problem is that european carriers are a bit more advanced than their american counterparts. We actually have, and use, 3G. even 3.5G. We use videochat. To make the iPhone popular here, at least in Sweden, it would need to be 3G. Not many buys a GSM phone nowadays.
Are swedish women as wild and crazy and they say? Because I've seen some hot swedish women in my time! Methinks a vacation is in order.
Working for a company that sells around the world has taught me many things about the frustrations of selling internationally...
Simply changing your name or place of manufacture on a label can lead to months of regulatory delays. We have to package things differently for various countries. Some materials are required or banned. We have to label things differently. Some types of information are required or prohibited in various places. We have to provide different product documentation for different countries. And I'm not even talking about the difficulties of translation. Those are relatively minor as compared to all the intricacies of various markets. South Korea recently passed a law that is requiring all of our labels to be changed. But of course that means that various regulatory bodies have to approve the changes or product won't be allowed in the country.
And that's only the regulatory side, the requirements to merely sell a product. Marketing, licensing, and distribution come into play as well.
So yes, It takes longer to bring a product to foreign market. No amount of open-minded-ness on the part of apple will speed up the process.
You might as well claim there is life on Mars.
There is!
Have any of you who complain about Apple in foreign markets stopped to think that maybe the regulatory environment of your nation might have something to do with the roll out of these services? I know to get the music stores done, Apple had to deal with a myriad of laws in Europe alone.
Yup, you've hit the nail on the head!
I couldn't agree more. The keynote sucks big time for all us over this side of the pond!!!! I was trying to work out how I could get a bank account in the US to overcome the crappy itunes uk store today but really it shouldn't be that difficult. Apple keep disappointing me at these events. The last annoucements of the updated ipod were so pathetic it wasn't even worth watching because it was all about itunes and the great content! This time it's about a phone that won't be around for a year (although it does look great) and tv that works well with itunes and the downloads. We have about 10 short pixar films to choose from. I won't be dashing out to by apple tv for that!!!!
Come on Apple sort yourself out this side of the pond and stop disappointing.
I really want a video ipod with a larger screen and I have been waiting and waiting. There is probably no chance of that now. They will make us hang out for the iphone. By then I will have got my video device. Get your media rights department working hard internationally and give us the content.
Poppet.
The point is, Apple could go international at the same time if it wanted to.
That's right, they could launch it all at once. But if that were the case, the movie store would still be a dream and the music store would have opened months later than it did.
You clearly are completely oblivious as to how huge of a pain in the ass it is to launch products in overseas markets. Apple can't just do anything on their timetable. They are at the mercy of governments and also in the case of the mobile phone they need to hook up with carriers. This is not something easily accomplished over night, over a month, or even over a year.