International customers are 2nd class citizens!

[Colonel Panik]

In America the iPod, iTMS and new iMac make Time magazine, one of the biggest names in magazine publishing and sells by the millions to such a wide range of consumers.

In the UK, Apple products make the pages of the tech mags and a couple of meeja mags looking to ride the next bandwagon.

That's not true. Apple features on the BBC news from time to time. The iPod mini delay was reported on BBC TV News! And The Economist also reports on Apple from time to time.

Then again, when Europe is treated as not important, it's hard to get into European newspapers, isn't it?

Regarding the cost of products, do you know that I would save money if I flew to NYC and back, if I bought two Powerbooks to smuggle through customs? That's what people are really complaining about. I understand the usual arguments : "it's tarrifs" and so on, but even when the Euro is hammering the Dollar we don't get a break. I believe a lot of the prices were fixed at a weak Euro rate, and most American companies have been very very slow to change their pricing.
But even with the strong Euro, you don't want to know how much, say, an upgrade from the Adobe Publishing Collections to Adobe Creative Suite is in Europe.

 

[hkriffraff]

BMWs are made in germany, cell phones are made in asia, pineapples grow in hawaii. Apple products are mostly made in Taiwan.

As an alternative to the ubiquitous Wintel platform, we have all put our faith in this one company for our computing and increasingly our entertainment needs. Which is why it stinks that us international users get milked for more $, are expected to wait much longer for product releases (and get told at the last minute - oh, it'll be an extra 3 months for you guys). And we have no ITMS service, don't benefit from any .mac specials but at the same time don't get a price reduction.

The same reason Germans get BMWs earlier and cheaper, Japanese get cell phones sooner, and Hawaiians get the freshest pineapples. It's an American company. It's going to serve Americans first--especially when there's a limited supply.