The world according to iTunes
And there I noticed already a few differences between the Belgian store and the US store. Where my American friends got extras with their purchase, I just got my music even though we both bought the same album.
They (my American friends) also told me about great movies and TV shows within iTunes. Even Steve Jobs announced it in his keynote, but I couldn't find it anywhere in my localized iTunes.
Now I have the latest iPhone 3G and being able to use wide screen video I do want to access those movies and TV shows, and download some cool applications as well. But I need a US address and a US credit card billing address ! I thought we were living in a global village, where I can buy stuff from anywhere in the world.
It's known that Apple is innovating the most advanced stuff, but they should also take into account they're no longer the PC shop around the corner. So on this part I believe Apple failed as a leading company. And, I'm a sucker for marketing so when I saw SJ's presentation of Apple TV, I wanted one as well. They're on sale in my local Apple shop, even in discount now. But what's the use for it. We don't have movies or TV shows in our iTunes and displaying pictures I can do that on my digital media center.
Is Apple forcing me to go shopping at amazon.com ?!?
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ReplyDeleteIt's not apple's fault, and don't worry, Amazon Unbox has the same regional limitation.
ReplyDeleteIt has to do with the movie distributors, and varying regulations in different countries. Sometimes, the movies that you can buy in the itunes store are still in the local cinema in various countries, so it would hurt sales if they would open up everything globally. It's going to happen eventually (we see more and more movie releases that are released worldwide at the same date), but it will probably take another 10 years or so.
The only solution to that is to have a US addres, which isn't difficult to get. Just google for 'us address' and you'll find various services that offer you an address overseas.