Why does Apple have a problem with Africa?

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a-person

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Sure, we get the iPod here. But it's an import. So are Macintosh computers. If any of you have tried to use iTunes, you'll notice you can't with an African credit/debit card. The iPhone will be available, through import, but will not be brought here by Apple. If you look how successful the iPod is here, there is most obviously a decent market.

So what's the problem? :mad:
 
No but I won't accept that. The majority of Africa might be completely screwed but it's some kind of corporate racism that they ignore South Africa. Steve Jobs has most definitely had something on his desk in the past the shows how well the iPod does here. iPod don't work without iTunes, and OBviouslty those with iPods have a greater propensity to use the online shop, no?
 
The market in this country isn't big enough to support something like a local iTunes. Its as simple as that.
 
ToxicBunny said:
The market in this country isn't big enough to support something like a local iTunes. Its as simple as that.
Click to expand...
How do you figure that? I've got a feeling a considerable number of iPods have been sold locally.
 
ToxicBunny said:
The market in this country isn't big enough to support something like a local iTunes. Its as simple as that.
Click to expand...

I don't believe that. If you look at the number of people asking about download sites (paid and free), iTunes might just fly
 
It's all got to do with complicated tax and trade laws. as well as our copyright laws.

I'd rather not have iTunes than have the Americans force the DCMA down our throats like they did to the Australians.

There is no real startup cost involved to allow the acceptance of standard Visa or Mastercard EFT transactions so it's got nothing to do with the size of the market.
 
Bcm said:
It's all got to do with complicated tax and trade laws. as well as our copyright laws.

I'd rather not have iTunes than have the Americans force the DCMA down our throats like they did to the Australians.

There is no real startup cost involved to allow the acceptance of standard Visa or Mastercard EFT transactions so it's got nothing to do with the size of the market.
Click to expand...
Can you explain? I'd understand a DRM argument, and I've pretty much figured out you mean DMCA not DCMA, but which Americans and what exactly did they forcefully do the the Australians?
 
ToxicBunny said:
The market in this country isn't big enough to support something like a local iTunes. Its as simple as that.
Click to expand...

Not only is the market big enough, but it doesn't have to be a local version of iTunes. I pay for and download from two legit overseas sites, one russian and one american. In this day and age money talks boet it's not about having set up anything locally. The world is a global village.
 
I lean towards the argument that market looks too small to Apple. I'd guess that the New York Apple Store sells more volume than all of Core Group.
 
a-person said:
Not only is the market big enough, but it doesn't have to be a local version of iTunes. I pay for and download from two legit overseas sites, one russian and one american. In this day and age money talks boet it's not about having set up anything locally. The world is a global village.
Click to expand...
I still say its the size of the market, though I see that Luxembourg and Belgium have online stores.

I'd also guess that the main thing preventing ITS is SA is the music labels. I'm certainly not going to be buying from ITS at R9-R13 a song. Now at R6-R8, maybe at a push.
 
I would also be leaning towards the same argument that it is simply not economically viable (too small) for them to come to SA.
They reach this conclusion when SA is compared to the rest of the world.

Most international companies tend to look at value in $, well R7 (+-) is one $, so SA spend won't compare to the rest of the world.

It's the same reason why some of Dell's products are also not selling in SA.

oh well
/shrug
 
My own speculative and unproved hypothesis is that Core inflates the prices just high enough to keep sales under Apple's radar.
 
bwana said:
My own speculative and unproved hypothesis is that Core inflates the prices just high enough to keep sales under Apple's radar.
Click to expand...

They would still be in the pound seats if there was an Apple online store. They would likely be bought out to do the "Apple-care" and probably still be able to operate as an independent retailer.
 
BobJones said:
They would still be in the pound seats if there was an Apple online store. They would likely be bought out to do the "Apple-care" and probably still be able to operate as an independent retailer.
Click to expand...
If apple entered the market Core would be relegated to what they really are - simple resellers. All the other resellers would then purchase directly from apple and everyone would be on equal footing wrt pricing.
 
lilDeath said:
The XPS range for example, 1210, 1710, etc.
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Are those the power laptops? don't they just offer them under different product names?
Dell seems to do a lot of customisation based on the country.
 
BobJones said:
Are those the power laptops? don't they just offer them under different product names?
Dell seems to do a lot of customisation based on the country.
Click to expand...
Yes, these are the power / gaming notebooks.

No, they are not rebranded or offered under different names for SA. Don't know what kind of customisation you are talking about, but yes you can build your own spec machine from the ground up but it is still based on a product version, which is standard. Basically add/remove components.
However, you cannot get the XPS range at all in SA. Tried several paths through contacts in US or UK, but left it when it got to 35K (import charges, VAT, etc)

Decided on the Precision M90 (still power / gaming but with more 'mobile' components) instead.

The 1710 can be loaded with 7800GTX :D
 
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