Games section now available in almost EVERY african app store..........except SA?!?

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cabelosa

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Now I am starting to get really frustrated with the reasoning and excuses behind Why we still dont have the Games section in the SA app store. After seeing the list of new app stores coming online in iTunes and seeing that New countries such as Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, Ghana, Malawi and others ALL have the games section available I cant accept the excuses given so far as to why its not available yet in SA???

Surely Apple didnt go to each of those african countries and make special agreements with the governments and rating boards to have games sold on their app store? If its all because of our government and old copyright laws then why do you get games for blackberry, Nokia and android on their app stores?? Surely they should also not be available?

I find it maddening that a country like Zimbabwe, who's Apple market share is miniscule in comparison to South Africa's manages to get a games section with no effort yet us South Africans, who have been buying and supporting Apple iPhones and Ipads are still, 4 years on, without a proper games section in our app store. Surely if these african countries can get games then it shouldnt be so hard for us to finally be allowed to by now?

Cant CORE, the distributors of Apple, get off their asses and "convince" Apple, if that need be the case, that we can be allowed the games section. I cannot accept that the copyright or "film and publications board" of Namibia, Malawi and Swaziland are more accepting of Apple than South Africa.
Can someone out there start to finally make this right?? Does CORE even fathom how many more iOS devices they would sell if the games section was made available???

Come on, with these new african app stores open, there is NO LONGER a valid excuse for SA users to be left without games in our app store!!!!
 
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Face it, Apple does not care about you. And you are still buying their products, so you are encouraging them to go on the way they have been going on. Let your money speak. Just don't buy their products if you are not happy with how they operate. It will not change, because their phones will sell regardless.
 
The other countries simply accept US or EU ratings.

Ours simple say nope, we wanna rate it ourself, oh and pay us if you want to do it.
 
The reason is the south African film and publications board want to rate every game before it is sold in SA. And they want something like R5K per game to rate them. Would YOU pay some banana republic what is essentially a 5k bribe to get your stuff sold there?
 
clasqm said:
Tried that once, but I think iTunes picked up on my .co.za email address and refused to accept it.
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Doesn't matter what email you use. Just use an actual address in Kenya (Google maps can help you pick a street/town)
 
Sinbad said:
The reason is the south African film and publications board want to rate every game before it is sold in SA. And they want something like R5K per game to rate them. Would YOU pay some banana republic what is essentially a 5k bribe to get your stuff sold there?
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If this is the case then how do all the other online games and other app stores manage to sell games? Are they all paying the R5K "bribe" to sell their games then? I think there is more to all this than meets the eye and the local distributor couldnt be bothered either way. Besides I already do have a US itunes account so it doesnt bother me much but it does hamper the popularity of iOS products in this country and with so many already being "apple haters" for no good reason, this just adds fuel to their silly fire.
 
cabelosa said:
If this is the case then how do all the other online games and other app stores manage to sell games? Are they all paying the R5K "bribe" to sell their games then? I think there is more to all this than meets the eye and the local distributor couldnt be bothered either way. Besides I already do have a US itunes account so it doesnt bother me much but it does hamper the popularity of iOS products in this country and with so many already being "apple haters" for no good reason, this just adds fuel to their silly fire.
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Well I can tell you how Steam bypass it. Content that is supplied from inside the country don't follow the same rules. So simply placing local mirrors with licensed companies bypass the rating req.

As for the smaller one's I am sure they simply do not care about it as they can simply state its the users breaking the law not them. Donno how Google/Nokia and BB does it.
 
Elimentals said:
Well I can tell you how Steam bypass it. Content that is supplied from inside the country don't follow the same rules. So simply placing local mirrors with licensed companies bypass the rating req.

As for the smaller one's I am sure they simply do not care about it as they can simply state its the users breaking the law not them. Donno how Google/Nokia and BB does it.
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Well thats probably one of the best replies and explanations ive heard in a while. That has been the problem so far. In all this time, NO ONE has been able to properly explain the problem or to try and find a why about it. I still leave most of the blame with CORE. Being the local distributor if they really wanted to address and fix this issue im sure they could have by now. Im sure an agreement or understanding could have been made between them and the local ratings board. Im sure by now, seeing as other african countries can get it, something could be arranged for us to get it to, as well as online music, video and tv series. If we never get that in SA then the local copyright holders have NO right to complain about online piracy, seeing as in SA we have no real option to purchase downloadable content such as movies and music.
 
cabelosa said:
If we never get that in SA then the local copyright holders have NO right to complain about online piracy, seeing as in SA we have no real option to purchase downloadable content such as movies and music.
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I'm sorry, but if you're going to use that line in court, please let us know how life in jail is.

You do not have an inalienable human right to any content, in downloadable or any other form. A content creator who doesn't like any countries whose names start with "S" is perfectly within his rights to refuse to sell to South Africa. A distributor who decides not to sell digitally to this country for whatever reason can have you locked up if you go ahead and pirate their stuff. Bleating about how they "have no rights" won't do you any good. "Rights" is a legal concept, NOT a moral one. If more people got that straight we'd have a lot less confusion in the world.

The copyright owners have all the rights. You have none. Live with it.
 
Whatever the cause .. it means the Apple experience in SA is effectively broken and you're jumping through hoops to continue paying Apple for a sub-par service.
 
clasqm said:
I'm sorry, but if you're going to use that line in court, please let us know how life in jail is.

You do not have an inalienable human right to any content, in downloadable or any other form. A content creator who doesn't like any countries whose names start with "S" is perfectly within his rights to refuse to sell to South Africa. A distributor who decides not to sell digitally to this country for whatever reason can have you locked up if you go ahead and pirate their stuff. Bleating about how they "have no rights" won't do you any good. "Rights" is a legal concept, NOT a moral one. If more people got that straight we'd have a lot less confusion in the world.

The copyright owners have all the rights. You have none. Live with it.
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What im trying to say is that in SA we have no option to pay for downloaded content. If we did then the copyright holders could have a leg to stand on. I know they own their copyright but it is exactly the reason of not giving people the options to choose that makes piracy such a huge problem. There will always be people who download pirated content but they could certainly cut down on that number by giving those that wish to actually pay for their downloads legally, the option to do so. At the moment, that option doesnt exist in SA.
 
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Yes, this is probably my biggest frustration with using my Apple devices. Having to buy vouchers from middle men (who is all taking their cut) .

This is definitely my #1 criteria when i will be buying my next device : How accessible is the software and services in South Africa.
 
diabolus said:
Yes, this is probably my biggest frustration with using my Apple devices. Having to buy vouchers from middle men (who is all taking their cut) .

This is definitely my #1 criteria when i will be buying my next device : How accessible is the software and services in South Africa.
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Well to one degree or another pretty much all devices are crippled in this country. Even the PS3 is crippled because we dont get all of the games or the VOD or music services. Same with Xbox live. Until the local media content holders decide that its time to open SA up to what the rest of the world has had for several years now, we will continue to live with crippled services, no matter what device or platform we choose. It is not just Apple's fault that we dont have iTunes or games in SA. As i said earlier, the problem is deeper than just laying the blame with one company.....and one which many in SA are too eager to hate for no good reason.
 
diabolus said:
Yes, this is probably my biggest frustration with using my Apple devices. Having to buy vouchers from middle men (who is all taking their cut) .

This is definitely my #1 criteria when i will be buying my next device : How accessible is the software and services in South Africa.
Click to expand...

Apple: Get a US account + vouchers or Kenya + SA Credit card
Android: Games work as normal, Need a proxy/VPN for music+books
 
francoislr said:
Face it, Apple does not care about you. And you are still buying their products, so you are encouraging them to go on the way they have been going on. Let your money speak. Just don't buy their products if you are not happy with how they operate. It will not change, because their phones will sell regardless.
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+1.

Its just like how people buy an Apple device and jailbreak it.
 
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