Apple Rolling Out iTunes Store Music and Movies in Twelve New Asian Countries [Updated]

[blow45]

Are they paying their fair amount of taxes in any of these countries? Or have they found yet another a la Luxembourg in the EU loophole to avoid paying what they should. That's the right question to ask. And citizens of these nations should be asking it.

[blow45]

Originally Posted by writingdevil

Lots of people have ideas they think are more humorous than racist, but after reading this one a few times, looking for the humor, only getting poking at a culture in naming and syntax.
What's up with the disclaimer? Say almost anything then say,
"hey, that's not racist."

It was pretty funny. In what way was it racist? You might want to explain it to some of us, because I don't see what''s racist it poking harmless fun at the way a language sounds. I find political correctness gone awry is what's hiding the real racism, that is people are quick to say racist for someone making fun of apple's choice of a social networking name ping comparing it with local syntax. But the same people won't bat an eyelid at the working conditions and suicide nets at foxconn because they expect other people to work in conditions they would never accept for them or their siblings just so they can afford their uber consumerism habits, and even have the gall to speak of apple's humanitarian efforts.

That's the real racism and hypocrisy, not the ping pong, ching chong love you long which is fun and harmless. We all speak differently and that's something to be humorous about, it's not something we should be anal about.

sorry for the consecutive post, why does the system sometimes work and others not?

[dra]

Originally Posted by tonyunreal

No luck for mainland China and Korea?

china needs a better tax system

[hkechoes]

it's a good reason to buy an Apple TV now (from Hong Kong).

but the Apple HK Store don't have any reference of Apple TV now.

[sshambles]

The PR statement by Apple caught my eye...

"and international artists like ADELE, The Beatles and Jason Mraz."

Adele, sure - she's sold enough records.
The Beatles speak for themselves.
But Jason Mraz... Seriously?

[chanyitian]

Originally Posted by macrumors

image


image

last week, e27 reported that apple had invited asian music label representatives to a "launch event" scheduled for tomorrow in hong kong, with speculation centering around a launch for itunes store music offerings in a number of countries in the region. Rumors have also indicated jason mraz will be performing at the launch event as part of the celebration.e27 now follows up with a specific claim that the launch will include not only music but also movies and tv shows and will be going live in seven countries: Singapore, malaysia, thailand, indonesia, the philippines, taiwan and hong kong.

A review of the localized itunes stores for the various countries reveals that movie listings have already gone live, and the navigation bars also contain listings for music, although they are not yet functional. Tv shows are not listed as an option in the navigation bar, so it appears that they may not be included in the launch.

Music and movies have been available in roughly 50 countries around the world prior to today's launch, with the most recent expansion coming last december with the addition of 16 latin american countries.

The app store has the broadest distribution among apple's itunes store content types, with 155 countries offering apps after last week's expansion. All seven of the asian markets receiving music and movie access today previously offered apps, podcasts, itunes u, and free books, but the new content marks substantial additions for customers in those countries.

update: Apple has issued a press release confirming the launch. The company is launching the itunes store in 12 new countries, not 7: Hong kong, singapore, taiwan, brunei, cambodia, laos, macau, malaysia, philippines, thailand, sri lanka and vietnam.

Article link: apple rolling out itunes store music and movies in twelve new asian countries [updated]

yay they are launching in hk!!! I can finally purchase songs online!!!

[Dreamer2go]

Originally Posted by Twenty5

Location to be closed to the airport? Well.. considering that Hong Kong does not have many places to host concerts or events like these. Im going to bet that they will be hosting this secret launch part at the AsiaWorld-Expo located in Lantau Island. Concerts happen here like 85% of the time and the venue is right next to the airport.

Moreover, when you go to AsiaWorld-Expo's upcoming events page, it states that on the 27th they will be hosting a private event.

So go figure

They will, because Jason Mraz will have a "secret" concert today.... so I'm sure it's Apple related now that this news broke out!

[haruhiko]

Originally Posted by hkechoes

it's a good reason to buy an Apple TV now (from Hong Kong).

but the Apple HK Store don't have any reference of Apple TV now.

I bought the Apple TV 2 in Japan last year... but it only supports 720p

[huntermaclean]

Does this mean my Apple TV will finally work in Hong Kong?

[haruhiko]

Originally Posted by huntermaclean

Does this mean my Apple TV will finally work in Hong Kong?

I think so, but the current selection is still quite limited. Hopefully they will add more movies soon!

But it seems that there isn't any TV shows available yet.

[akbarali.ch]

No music love for India ?!! Apple

[tonydickinson]

Wow, wow, wow.

I have waited for this for so long, as in singapore the iTunes store felt very second class.... THANK YOU APPLE.

Perhaps now we might be able to buy the Apple TV in the Singapore store. I have avoided the US sets sold here in forums, as the Apple TV is fantastic with "real" AppleStore support.....

[mexkhmer]

I am really shocked that South Korea was not added to this group of countries... I had also my hopes for China and India to open a music store. The countries that I am actually waiting for a music store to open are Israel, Egypt, and Russia....

[EbookReader]

Originally Posted by mexkhmer

I am really shocked that South Korea was not added to this group of countries... I had also my hopes for China and India to open a music store. The countries that I am actually waiting for a music store to open are Israel, Egypt, and Russia....

No shock at all.

More legal digital music are sold in South Korea than in the USA.

The weekly #1 song in South Korea usually sell 500,000 or more. Sometimes even more than 1,000,000.

http://www.gaonchart.co.kr/main/sect...on?nationGbn=T

This week #1 song sold 630,510 copies



The reason: legal MP3s in South Korea are sold at around $0.15-0.20 each on average.
Low Price, High Volume.

On an interesting note, Spotify is now No. 2 source of revenue for the major labels behind Itunes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/spoti...-labels-2012-6
Spotify Is Now The Second Biggest Source Of Revenue For Labels—Source




Look at its growth:

http://spotifyroyalties.blogspot.com/

Spotify REVENUE

2008: $0.612 million USD
2009: $18.1 million USD
2010: $99 million USD
2011: $236.4 million USD
2012: projected at $889 million USD

[haruhiko]

The 3rd gen Apple TV is also on sale at the local Apple Store (IFC) in Hong Kong.

[bedifferent]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46WcFObgYhI

Deck the hars with bars of horry far ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra
(Yes, borderline in bad taste, but c'mon, "A Christmas Story"? Classic

[adder7712]

Fantastic! I've even spotted some Malaysian artists on iTunes. What I need are Gift Cards. All tracks are DRM-free now right?

[plhov]

Finally got some decent iTunes content at last in Singapore, all we need now is to be able to buy some decent books (instead of the crappy free stuff) in iBooks and I'd be a happy chap.

[AppleHater]

Originally Posted by EbookReader

No shock at all.

More legal digital music are sold in South Korea than in the USA.

The weekly #1 song in South Korea usually sell 500,000 or more. Sometimes even more than 1,000,000.

http://www.gaonchart.co.kr/main/sect...on?nationGbn=T

This week #1 song sold 630,510 copies



The reason: legal MP3s in South Korea are sold at around $0.15-0.20 each on average.
Low Price, High Volume.

On an interesting note, Spotify is now No. 2 source of revenue for the major labels behind Itunes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/spoti...-labels-2012-6
Spotify Is Now The Second Biggest Source Of Revenue For Labels—Source




Look at its growth:

http://spotifyroyalties.blogspot.com/

Spotify REVENUE

2008: $0.612 million USD
2009: $18.1 million USD
2010: $99 million USD
2011: $236.4 million USD
2012: projected at $889 million USD

An active paid download market is a good thing, right? I guess, they need to charge the same $.99 per song in every country? Considering the popularity of k-pop, it's rather strange.

[jlnr]

Watching movies in English with Chinese (TW) subtitles, without wasting time on torrents and SRT files? A dream might've come true!

SD rentals are affordable too, starting at NT$40 (US$1.34). 181 titles are available to rent right now.

[Trekorvar]

If iTunes store just became available in your country/region, and you plan to purchase an Apple TV, make sure there are plenty of titles available in the library from the start! Do not assume the amount will increase over time! Movies became available in iTunes store Japan in November 2010 with very few titles available initially, the situation has not improved since then! I regret my purchase of Apple TV, and can definitely not recommend it to anyone here in Japan.

[cheunghy]

Have been waiting for this for years!
Prices are much lower than I expected.
I'm now seriously thinking of switching from the UK Store. (I'm an overseas student.)

And the Apple TV is back!

[geveke]

Originally Posted by Radio

I heard apple is also adding their music social service called Ping Pong Ching Chong Love You Long Time'

Btw that wasn't racist

Yes it was. And stupid.

[robertbrian23]

very limited number of data available for my country. -_-
tried using the search functionality in the itunes store and saw the movie and music i wanted to download but not available for me. -_-

seems i still need to wait.

[negativzero]

Yup, we got the Apple TV in Singapore too
http://store.apple.com/sg/browse/hom...amily/apple_tv

The movie store has started out great with a nice selection of movies, I did a check with my movies archive here and didn't find all the mainstream films on it. Stuff like Bourne, Titanic, Avatar they don't have the entire Marvel film collection either with stuff like Iron Man, Spiderman, etc missing plus the entire Disney and Pixar catalogue of catroons is also missing. So lots still missing but I hope they add those titles soon. Additionally, what I'm hearing from a friend who uses the US iTunes store is the mature content here is filtered. The local version of 300 has a minute or so shaved off, so could be stuff like the sex scenes and battles got cut, I'm not too sure.

Music is a little better, and at least my faves are there like Eric Clapton, Carole King, Miles Davis, Eminem(even the explicit version songs). Their trance collection sucks though and major dance artists like ATB, Armin van Buren, Fatboy Slim are mising

So still a lot missing here. Lots of major US studios not committing yet I assume.