[Ti] iTunes bypassing Canada [OT - RANT]

[Murray Kastner]

As a Canadian and a user of Macintoshes since the 128k (still have 
it!) I can attest to the fact that Apple Canada seems to march to its 
own drummer. On one hand they have different market forces and a 
variety of governmental hoops to hop through but on the other hand 
they can be somewhat obdurate and rather high-handed. I was 'forced' 
to buy a PowerBook in the USA two years ago when Apple Canada refused 
to readjust their prices in keeping with the rather drastic 
realignment in currency exchange rates. Although I am usually a loyal 
customer through my dealer here in Montreal, I could not ignore the 
fact that Apple Canada maintained their price structure far too long 
and I was able to save more than $1000.00 bypassing the Canadian 
channel. Since I also have a residence in the USA, I was able to do 
it but they did not make friends of the people who had no options but 
to overpay or switch platforms. The windows boxes kept pace with the 
currency changes.


>On 7/1/04 12:35 PM, "John Griffin" <jwegriffin at mac.com> wrote:
>
>>  Shawn King typed this message on 6/30/04 3:18 PM:
>>
>>>  As for iTunes, that's a matter of who controls the music industry - in
>>>  Canada, it's a disparate group of people Apple has to deal with. In China,
>>>  it's the government that controls everything.
>>
>>  The licensing argument is rather specious at best. Why are there over a
>>  dozen Windows based music download sites now running out of Toronto
>>  (PureTracks, Wal*Mart, Bell, etc.) and not a peep from the authors of iTunes
>>  in Cupertino?
>
>Because the rules for those services are different.
>
>Apple has been very clear in the kind of service it wants to provide.
>Perhaps the Canadian labels don't want to participate under Apple's "rules".
>
>>  And for the Apple store when I think of it there is not a great loss here.
>>  There are plenty of Apple Retail stores in Toronto that would give Apple a
>>  hard time in competition. Probably this is the real reason Apple is staying
>>  out.
>
>Not likely. There have been plenty of good retailers in the States that have
>been hurt or even driven out of business by Apple stores in their vicinity.
>--
>Shawn King
>Your Mac Life
>http://www.yourmaclife.com
>
>
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-- 

Murray