“Apple is expected tomorrow to announce the introduction of an Australian iTunes music store to coincide with the start of its annual MacWorld conference in San Francisco. Australia would be the 16th country in which the computer and consumer electronics maker has opened an outlet,” Nathan Cochrane reports for The Age. “An Apple spokesman refused to comment on the hotly rumoured launch ahead of any official announcement, but it is believed the maker of the iPod digital music player has flown senior executives from California to Sydney for tomorrow’s announcement. ‘We won’t comment on what we are and are not launching because it’s Apple policy,’ the spokesman said. ‘I have been bombarded (with requests to comment).'”
Cochrane reports, “Apple has iTunes music stores in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Britain, Ireland, Canada and the US but the domain name itunes.com.au, which would be likely to point to an Australian site, was still available for sale yesterday. The long-anticipated Australian launch of the service that elsewhere has revived Apple’s flagging fortunes would pre-empt the imminent introduction of a Microsoft-ninemsn joint venture to sell music over the net and would go head to head with existing services from Telstra and Destra.”
“Apple’s Australian download music store is likely to price songs at 99¢ a track and $9.99 an album. This is about a third cheaper than some other markets, such as the US, depending on exchange rate fluctuations,” Cochrane reports. “But veteran music industry commentator and analyst Phil Tripp was dubious yesterday about whether Apple would launch its music store this week, although he said it could launch in the next six months. He said the next most obvious territory was Japan but that launch was hampered by legal, cultural and currency issues. ‘I can’t imagine they would launch iTunes this Wednesday,’ he said.”
Full article here.
Finally.
BTW, my magic word is party. Seriously.
“service that elsewhere has revived Apple’s flagging fortunes”
I WISH I had Apple’s “flagging fortunes” of 5 BILLION in the bank and no debt! What are these reporters getting their stuff?
magic word “served”
as in, “MS, U GOT…”
I think the question is, is there anything they’re NOT going to do tomorrow???
the answer to that, ed, is release new Powerbooks…(I think)
G-Spank:
ThinkSecret is now reporting updates to the PowerBooks tomorrow:
At the high-end, the new PowerBooks will top out at 1.67GHz, sources say. Other chances will be similarly minor: the 80GB/4200RPM hard drive found on the current high-end 15-inch and 17-inch models will be replaced with 100GB hard drive spinning at 5400-rpm. The video card at the high-end will remain ATI’s Radeon 9700, but it will be given a boost from 64MB of memory to 128MB. The PowerBook SuperDrive will also gain official support for DVD+R media, along with the DVD-R discs that have always worked.
At the low-end, the 12-inch PowerBook will be upgraded to 1.5GHz. Hard drive size will remain at 60GB, but the drive will be upgraded from a 4200-rpm model to 5400-rpm drive, marginally improving performance. Other specifications will remain unchanged from the current 12-inch PowerBook.
All PowerBooks will also be upgraded to the new Bluetooth 2.0 specification with Enhanced Data Rate, introduced in November. Bluetooth 2.0 is about three-times faster than Bluetooth 1.1, consumes less power, and is backwards compatible with Bluetooth 1.1 devices.
magic word: recent
hehe, I open my mouth and this is what happens. Ok, fine, Apple, Then I say that tomorrow we won’t see an Apple iCar that despite how bad a driver you are, never crashes…
“I say that tomorrow we won’t see an Apple iCar that despite how bad a driver you are, never crashes…”
But you will see an announcement about how Apple is partnering with various car audio companies to support iPods.
(I’m just saying–I have no idea. Please don’t sue me, Apple
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue wink” style=”border:0;” /> )
Yeah, well they better advertise the fact that the ‘store’ is open for business. Otherwise no one will even know about it. SBS, radio, major papers anything. We Aussies currently get no Apple advertising. Unless Myers or Harvey Norman has a sale, but I’m talking about ‘proper advertising’. Like the U2 ad or something. Once people see the Apple logo on there TV set’s it will be like Macs have become an official computer at last and people will take notice.
Bush Tucker Man:
That’s not true, I saw an iPod bus in Brisbane city last week. And the U2 ad is played all the time (on Foxtel at least).
I reckon the iTMS launch is why the keynote webcast is delayed – so the Apple event in Sydney can see it first.
I have also seen ipods over dozens of bus shelters and the U2 ipod ad at least half a dozen times on free to air here in Adelaide.
They also used to play the original ipod ads too.
To add air to the fire of speculation. I just got the following email from PayPal….
PayPal + AUS$ = iTunes????? Can it be true????
>>>>>>BEGIN E-MAIL<<<<<<
New! Send and Receive Payments in Australian Dollars
Dear ***********,
PayPal Australia members! Now you can use PayPal in your local currency without hassles. With Australian Dollars added to the list of supported currencies, it’s even easier for you to make and accept payments domestically without worrying about currency conversion or foreign exchange fees.
[edit boring stuff]
Look for more enhancements to the PayPal service in Australia coming soon!
>>>>>END E-MAIL<<<<<<
I registered for the event tomorrow at Westin Hotel here in Sydney, no confirmation via email of phone so I’m not sure if I should turn up, anyone else got the confirmation (apart from the Thank You page after the registeration)??
To Brisbanite & SunSeeker…
Well I’m glad to hear that. Nice to know whats happening on the North Island. Here in sleepy Tassie, well, you know how it is.
my magic word is ‘help’. get the picture?