“Earlier this week, Apple extended support for its iTunes Store, iTunes Match and iTunes in the Cloud services to 12 new markets across Asia.,” Jon Russell reports for TNW. “While the move is undoubtedly a positive one, bringing new services to users in Asia and extending monetisation opportunities for Apple and developers, it is also notable that the move missed three massive markets in the region; and a combined population of almost 3 billion.”

“Those living in China (1.5 billion), India (1.2 billion) and Indonesia (220 million) remain ‘off the grid’, with Apple fans in each country left to their devices if they want to access the benefits of these service,” Russell reports. “The more enterprising of them may have already set up overseas (US) accounts, which are then loaded with pre-pay credits — something that has gained a level of popularity in Indonesia — but for most, the services simply don’t exist.”

Russell reports, “Things are not simple, of course, else Apple would have long moved into these three giant markets and others.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Dan K." for the heads up.]

Related article:
Apple launches iTunes Store in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and nine additional Asian countries – June 27, 2012