Apple outside the US
Hi all, nice to join your forum.
Let's have some perspective here. David Frith's column in The Australian was, as usual, well written but seen without a broader view does make things look worse than they are.
To the schoolies who say their classmates "hate" Macs, I think we all have to assume that "hate" is being used in the typically hyperbolic fashion to which teenagers are enslaved. Hate? Really? How about "misunderstand" or "fail to appreciate for lack of exposure"? These teenie opinions aren't worth too much.
That said, to to those Mac-lovin' schoolies I dips me lid to yer willingness to swim against the tide.
As for David's article and the meaningful responses that it has attracted, let's take a look at this from another perspective.
Australia, population-wise, is a tiny nation. Less than 20 million. If Apple has even three per cent market share here, then which photo finisher in their right mind will commit to a resource-intensive contractual undertaking for maybe a few thousand potential customers from across the nation? It ain't good economics. Ditto for other Finder/.Mac driven services.
This is not Apple's fault. What I find mysterious is why Apple can't forge a mail-order relationship between a US provider and Australian iPhoto users. I, for one, would be happy to pay a nominal air-freight charge for one of those gorgeous albums.
As some solice, and this is a .Mac thing, Apple tried to make up for the 100 free photos enticement aimed at initial US .Mac subscribers by replacing it in non-US markets with an $A100 voucher to be redeemed at an Apple store. It's not like they're not trying at all to meet the expectations and demands of their non-US clients.
Which is not to say they are otherwise succeeding well but let's look at just one complaint.
Can't use Sherlock to find a Mexican restaurant? Jeez, gimme a break. Heard of a phone book? What kind of loser needs a computer to tell them where to eat? Ditto for other services. I mean, really, what is it people find so hard to live without?
So we still have international sales down. Well, well, what a surprise. Not! Economics and lost market share play their part but so does the fact that many people with Macs of less than three years of age can find no compelling reason to upgrade their machines. They ain't broke, they don't need fixing, and the new models need their pricing trimmed.
Apple's so-called US-centricity is real but the realities aren't as onerous as people claim and Apple's action in Australia shouldn't be too harshly judged.
FWIW, Apple is broadening its retail commitment in Sydney with a presence not unlike the US Apple stores. Adelaide-based Apple reseller Next Byte has just opened two new stores in Perth, WA, (the world's most isolated city) after success elsewhere in Australia including at its home base where it has two stores (competing with at least four other resellers) in a city with a population of about one million. Further, Adelaide company Microbits, which started life as a white-box maker in the 80s, has recently set up an Apple Education Team of specialists to service what they perceive to be a growing market.
David Frith's column has caused quite a stir but, as is typical in his medium, it doesn't (and can't, but not by his design) paint the whole picture.
I, too, would like to see a balance in services and commitment from Apple to its users outside the US but, frankly, I'm too busy using a perfectly adequate G3/500Mhz/OS 10.1.2 iMac to manage a website, edit movies, play games, write stories, manage my email and all the other stuff it lets me do to be bothered at all by the absence of a few services of questionable worth.
And to those posters with an issue about the cost of Macs in Australia I have three concepts for you: 1, economy of scale; 2, freight charges; and 3, exchange rates.
Sorry to lay a rant on you on my first visit.
