Apple Canada… you suck!
Oh Apple Canada, we stand and in wait for the… I have been biting my tongue for the last week or so, slowly digesting the Macworld Expo news, seething more and more each day. I could touch on all the things about the MacBook Air being a little less than stellar (bites tongue harder) but you’ve already read the thoughts and opinions of the tech pundits out there. Or I could go on about Apple reinventing things like online movie rentals as though it’s never been done before (tongue bleeds in mouth). Or I could rant about the seemingly obvious updates for the iPhone… but what is the point? What is the point of me going on about things that are likely no to affect me for some time to come?
As a Canadian with only imaginary boundaries separating me from the Apple motherland, I am forced to sit and watch as my southerly neighbors bask in all the digital media glory that is Apple these days. Until recently I couldn’t so much as download some music and a podcast or two. Now I suppose I should be thankful that I can download the odd Canadian television show that CTV might happen to see fit to distribute. The pickin’s are slim; no movies downloads, no major network television shows, no movie rentals… can I remind you that geographically speaking it is a mere imaginary slice of air space that separates Canadians and Americans in what is called the worlds longest unprotected border. There are no technological hurdles to overcome to deliver this content to us. Trust me, we are quite well connected in every other respect, but iTunes, it seems, exists in some other spacial realm where data transfers must hit the Can-Am firewall of politics.
Canadians are not alone in their belly aching. We are joined by legions of other countries with similar complaints in service lags. The difference is this; Canadians have free trade agreements and partnerships that all but make us American, collectively speaking. Why then must Canadians be the last to get anything that Apple dishes out. I mean seriously, Germany, the UK and France all have the iPhone… countries who’s trade importance doesn’t match that of Canadas when you combine those three countries together, and who’s geographical locations puts one of the worlds greatest oceans between them and they manage to get an iPhone.
Ok, I am not biting my tongue anymore… Apple? You suck! (that is until you let me buy House MD, CSI and Grey’s Anatomy… for my wife… from iTunes Canada)
[tags]Apple Canada, iPhone Canada, iTunes Canada, Apple sucks[/tags]
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:09 am
Adam:
Remember that the problem really does not lie with Apple, per se, but with the entertainment companies and their attorneys. Apple only sells the products per the licensing agreements. Despite the free-trade agreements for most industries that does not really apply to the products from the RIAA and MPAA (read: movies and music) and how sales/residuals/etc are calculated and paid.
This is more another great example of how entertainment companies are out of touch with the technology available to sell their wares worldwide. Once the RIAA/MPAA and their associated cronies enter the 21st century (heck I’d be happy if they entered the late 20th for that matter) it will be better off for all consumers; especially our great neighbors to the North.