Apple opened its iTunes Music Store to Maltese citizens last week, finally giving access to content that has not been available locally for years. Eleven other European countries were also given access, several years after the iTunes store was first launched in April 2003.
It is accessible though the iTunes software on both Windows and Apple Mac computers or directly on Apple mobile devices.
Apple did not issue an official statement but MacRumors, one of the best-informed news websites on everything Apple, reported that 12 EU countries that had been without iTunes Music Store access now appear to be offering music content to customers. The list of countries includes Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
iCentre, Apple’s authorised service provider in Malta, revealed to i-Tech that a request for such an access had been made years ago but without success.
“We have tried several times to share our views upon this matter but unfortunately our plea did not bear any fruit until now,” revealed Adrian Micallef, general manager at iCentre.
“We had been chasing this for more than seven years and in 2007 we had also submitted a formal question to the European Commission. However from what we understand, this didn’t necessary fall within Apple’s remit. Rather, it was a question of content rights that the giant music labels had not agreed upon in some European countries, including Malta.”
MacRumors reported how Apple is also making available movie content to other European countries, with movie downloads available for rental and purchase. However it seems that only music is available to the Maltese. No video content is accessible. Another website with Apple-related news, Apple Insider, reported that although users in Malta, Cyprus and Slovenia could buy music for the iPhone, there was no fully-fledged official online store page for these countries as yet.
Some Maltese users have tried to circumvent the restrictions on the Maltese iTunes store by registering for a foreign store, especially the UK one. Since this requires the use of a UK-based credit card for purchases, these Maltese users simply bought vouchers over eBay or while travelling to the UK.
MacRumors also reported that Apple expanded the number of countries with books in the iBookstore and this includes Malta.
Apple Insider said: “The introduction of iTunes across Europe should significantly improve Apple’s reach as some of the territories gaining iTunes support this week have populations over 10 million. In June, Apple announced at WWDC that it had sold over 15 billion songs since opening the iTunes Music Store in mid-2003, making it the largest music retailer in the world.”
The Maltese iTunes App Store was launched in April 2009 and contains tens of thousands of apps for the iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Mr Micallef is optimistic that this development will further enhance the popularity of Apple products in Malta, which were given a boost with the iPod phenomenon.