“Apple Computer announced Tuesday the expansion of its well-received iTunes Music Store to nine additional European Union countries. The European version of the online store has been available in the UK, France and Germany since June. In addition, Apple said that a Canadian version of iTunes Music Store will launch sometime in November,” Robyn Weisman reports for CIO Today.

“‘Apple is probably further ahead than most, but it’s not like they can go take a nap,’ Gartner G2 media team research director Mike McGuire told NewsFactor. Each one of the new markets has its own set of genres, artists and so forth that require local expertise to program and stock. Apple still has to execute well, as a business, to make sure it is meeting those expectations, McGuire said,’ Weisman reports. “‘Honestly, I can’t tell why Apple is succeeding [while] their competitors just don’t have anything close,’ McGuire continued.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: McGuire said, “Apple is probably further ahead than most.” Yeah, you could say that since Apple has over 70% of the legal online music download market. Is McGuire vying for “Analyst Understatement of the Year” here or what?

McGuire said, “Honestly, I can’t tell why Apple is succeeding [while] their competitors just don’t have anything close.” All you have to do is use an iPod with iTunes and then try to use any other store/jukebox/player combination and it’s clear why Apple is succeeding. Apple is the only company that controls the whole widget besides Sony (and their solution is just too late, too complex, too proprietary, too uncool, too ugly, and just plain not as good as Apple’s). That’s why Apple’s iPod+iTunes is a better experience and, come to think of it, why Macintosh works so much better than the cobbled-together Wintel hegemony that produces commodity consumer-grade Windows PCs.