OT (and Canadian whining)

[gkar at mac]

On 10/19/03 1:20 PM, "John Griffin" <jwegriffin at mac.com> wrote:

> So I say: To h*ll with iTunes store! They don't want anything to do with us
> up here - now we don't have to have anything to do with them and we can get
> our music cheaper.

Before you say to h*ll with the iTunes store maybe you better learn a little
more about Canadian law as well as the state of the music industry in
Canada. You assume that Apple hasn't implemented the iTunes store because it
doesn't care - or because perhaps Steve doesn't like Canadians, eh? I
suspect you are wrong.

There are at least three other explanations for no Canadian iTunes joy.
First, Canadian law may be slowing Apple down, preventing Apple from working
as it would like, or even putting down so many roadblocks that Apple decided
it wasn't economically possible. As a US citizen I know full well how
Byzantine and protectionist Canadian laws are. And to be fair, so are ours.

Second, Apple almost certainly has to negotiate an entirely different
agreement with the Canadian rights holders of all the music content. This is
certainly at least part of the reason we don't see an iTunes store yet in
Europe which would be much more economically attractive than one in Canada.
Different entities are sold the marketing rights in different countries so
in Europe Apple has to deal with a multitude of people. A unified Europe is
still a long while away.

Third, familiar with the claim E-Data has made against Microsoft that it is
violating its patent with its online music store in Europe? The patent has
expired here in the US but what about Canada?

I'll be honest, I don't know the answer. Maybe Apple doesn't think Canada is
worth a music store. Or maybe Steve holds some bizarre grudge against
Ontario. But it is more likely that if Apple could get a profitable iTunes
store up and running in Canada it would do so as quickly as possible.


Cheers
david

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gkar at mac.com