26 new international iTunes Stores?
To buy an iPhone, you must register through the iTunes Store. But 26 of the countries for which Apple just announced iPhone deals don’t have iTunes Stores.
Will these 26 countries be getting their own iTunes Stores? If so, this will more than double the number of countries with stores, from 22 countries to 48. If not, how will these customers activate their iPhones? Either way, the recent announcements expanding iPhone’s reach around the world promise big changes ahead.
And there’s probably a good chance we’ll hear press releases soon for the 8 countries like Denmark and Spain that do already have iTunes Stores, but don’t yet have announced carriers.
Here’s the current list of countries, carriers, and whether those countries already have iTunes Stores:
| Country | Carrier | Already has iTunes Store? |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Claro | no |
| Australia | Optus & Vodafone | Yes |
| Austria | One & T-Mobile | Yes |
| Belgium | Mobistar | Yes |
| Brazil | Claro | no |
| Canada | Rogers | Yes |
| Chile | Claro | no |
| Colombia | Comcel | no |
| Czech Republic | Vodafone | no |
| Denmark | - | Yes |
| Dominican Republic | Claro & Orange | no |
| Ecuador | Porta | no |
| Egypt | Mobinil & Vodafone | no |
| El Salvador | Claro | no |
| Finland | - | Yes |
| France | Orange | Yes |
| Germany | T-Mobile | Yes |
| Greece | Vodafone | Yes |
| Guatemala | Claro | no |
| Honduras | Claro | no |
| India | Bharti Airtel & Vodafone | no |
| Ireland | O2 | Yes |
| Italy | Telecom Italia & Vodafone | Yes |
| Jamaica | Claro & MiPhone | no |
| Jordan | Orange | no |
| Japan | - | Yes |
| Luxembourg | - | Yes |
| Mexico | Telcel | no |
| Netherlands | - | Yes |
| New Zealand | Vodafone | Yes |
| Nicaragua | Claro | no |
| Norway | - | Yes |
| Paraguay | Claro | no |
| Peru | Claro | no |
| Philippines | Globe Telecom | no |
| Poland | Orange | no |
| Portugal | Optimus & Vodafone | Yes |
| Puerto Rico | Claro | no |
| Romania | Orange | no |
| Singapore | SingTel Mobile | no |
| Slovakia | Orange | no |
| South Africa | Vodacom | no |
| Spain | - | Yes |
| Sweden | - | Yes |
| Switzerland | Orange | Yes |
| Turkey | Vodafone | no |
| UK | O2 | Yes |
| Uruguay | Claro | no |
| USA | AT&T | Yes |
I suspect iPhones can also be activated via the new app store, so Apple need not set up any new iTunes stores.
Sounds plausible, but whether it’s the App Store or the iTunes Store, that’s still a tremendous of work for Apple to translate the site and support the local currencies.
How many of the above carriers are CDMA only?
@Dave Well since the iPhone is a GSM phone I think none of them are CDMA only.
You are right, setting up app stores in multiple countries is not trivial. But it is definitely much easier than setting up iTunes Stores, assuming we are talking about having music and possibly TV shows and movies in each of these stores. Negotiating with both the content distributors and each country’s censorship department, and do it all in a big-bang fashion, is very difficult.
Umm…. Wrong.
Currently, your iPhone must be activated with an Apple ID, through the iTunes *software*. It does not necessarily require access to any particular “store”, just a copy of iTunes and the internet.
It will be interesting if they continue this model however.
Currently, you cannot even get an Apple iTunes ID if the country you’re residing in does not have an iTunes store. I’m putting my money on activation through app store.
Well I live in the Dominican Republic, but if I can buy an iPhone but I cannot buy music with it through the iTunes I don’t see any benefit for Apple more than the iPhone itself. That also is like buying and ice cream and just get the cone. If it is like that I swear I won’t buy it, then I just will stay with my jailbreaked iPod Touch.
the philippines now has an itunes store!!!!
I live in Ecuador, the iphone will come in august. but there’s no itunes store yet! btw, u need to update the list, cuz theres itunes store for argentina, brazil, chile, colombia, venezuela… (I CANT BELIEVE THERES ITUNES STORE FOR VENEZUELA AND COLOMBIA AND NOT FOR ECUADOR! i mean, helloooo venezuela is like living in communism lately…ugh!).. Ecuador is a free country! hurry up Apple!
It is SO stupid to leave Ecuador out of the picture. Don’t you know it’s the ONLY coyntry in Latin America that uses the U.S. DOLLAR as it’s official currency? Not to mention the fact that the country is one of the highest consumers of cellphone technology…over 90% of the population owns one! I really hope to see the iTunes store for Ecuador up and running soon.
Get a clue Charly.
Panamá and El Salvador are also “dolarized” market places.
Forget about the Iphone issue.
What about IPOD owners. They too have the same stupid restrictions.
you can buy an IPOD, legally, anywhere. But only if you happen to live in one of the 28 countries blessed with an ITUNES website can you “legally” download music.
And now, they’ve included a clause in the user agreement saying that if you use the US store you agree that you are within the US territory while downloading. Total BS.
So,… Is Apple promoting illegal downloading by selling us the IPOD but not giving access to a legal means of buying music?
David, there’s good reason to believe that Apple’s happy to extend their music download business as broadly as possible. The problem is likely the contracts necessary to secure the rights to do so.