Apple's Haves and Have Nots, Around the World 247
Rambo Tribble writes "As this story in the Economist notes, Apple's policies regarding international sales are often confusing and outdated. Apparently, Apple either hasn't been aware of political and social changes in the world over the last 20 years, or doesn't wish to acknowledge them."
Soulskill rightly notes that at least some of the complained-about policies boil down to Apple's adherence to local copyright and licensing laws.
Re:wow (Score:4, Funny)
Seriously. Just wait until the economist hears about region coded dvds!
Unfair? (Score:3, Funny)
Sick of this shit (Score:4, Funny)
Some zenly advice (Score:5, Funny)
Sometimes when something sucks it's not them - it's you.
Re:wow (Score:5, Funny)
slapForehead();
Surely you mean
Re:Its because doing business in Europe costs more (Score:1, Funny)
Not saying whether or not these protections are good or bad, but many Europeans don't seem to realize that they certainly aren't free.
What do you mean? They ARE free, citizens of Europe don't pay anything for these protections. They are free by law.
What I've never understood is why we don't make a law to say ALL lunches are free!
Typical BS blaming Apple instead of government (Score:4, Funny)
Apple makes just 1 of each product for the whole world in almost every case. The only difference between an iPhone bought in San Francisco and one bought anywhere else is the government in question. There are not "US editions" and "international editions." Apple does not even make proprietary Verizon or Sprint iPhones to serve the US cell market of 3 overlapping monopolies, they run on AT&T only in the US because it's the only US carrier that is compatible with the world. So not only are these criticisms of Apple misguided, they're entirely opposite. International customers should be praising Apple for providing them with the exact same product.
Apple even sells power adapters that are worldwide-compatible. They have a "World Travel Adapter Kit" which is simply a set of various international plugs. You simply pull the US plug off your MacBook, iPad, iPhone, or iPod adapter and plug on the correct plug for where you are and it just works.
Is there any other US corporation that is so internationally-minded?
Re:Apples website in general (Score:5, Funny)
* Accelerometer
* Proximity sensor
* Ambient light sensor
...all typical components of a bomb...
Re:Media Regional Sales Restrictions (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Its because doing business in Europe costs more (Score:4, Funny)
Damn straight! Why should I have to pay for it? The government has a lot of money, they should pay!
Welcome to Greece.
Re:Apples website in general (Score:3, Funny)
The iPhone is merely the detonator; refer to the lithium-ion batteries which have been known to overheat and catch fire under certain circumstances in the first generation iPhone. The timer, accelerometer, the CPU and stripped-down OS X are obviously used for a timer circuit, and the addition of the GPS in the 3G model is obviously not intended for user navigation, but the far more insidious purpose of igniting an incendiary device once an aircraft reaches altitude or crosses a border (after all, why else should such a device need GPS? No average consumer would ever use such military technology),
No coiled wires and ticking timers are needed. Apple saw a need in the market for bomb detonator technology where the detonator ought to be more covert and NOT beep loudly every second, and the ability for foolproof wireless ignition is provided via the substandard batteries. Unfortunately the Apple 3G Detonator Device (often referred to as "iPhone" but Muslim radicals know better per Apple's subtle graphical codes) provides an inferior battery which tends to fizzle, so users who actually put the Apple 3G unit to its intended purpose have to upgrade the battery to a more efficient model which doesn't fizzle into a dud.
Also, have you ever noticed the iPhone, while booting up displays a little circular icon which is vaguely reminiscent of an explosion? Is this coincidence? I think not. Apple is obviously communicating to Taliban terrorist cells through such subtle graphic imagery, and their anti-American stance is clear as you can tell by viewing the user interface; there is a distinct lack of American flags, and the background and case of the alleged "iPhone" (we now know better) product are black; the iPhone is dressed in almost all black. You know who else dressed in black? The Nazis, that's who!
Apple is clearly a threat which needs to be dealt with promptly. Homeland Security, please investigate Apple for your next act of Homeland Security Theater. I just can't way to see how this play concludes!
Re:wow (Score:5, Funny)
Also, you don't want to allocate a new instance of Forehead. You want to use the one you already have. And slap is an action, not a state.
[[Forehead sharedInstance] slap:[[Hand arrangedObjects] objectAtIndex:kHandLeftIndex]];