Ideas

With Internet, there is no such thing as a single market

  • Daniel Lanuza profile
    Daniel Lanuza
    1 March 2015 - updated 4 years ago
  • 1 comment
    Total votes: 0

Experience: 

I will give one simple example that both hard to believe and easy to check.

In a place called Apple App Store, if you buy something on the French App Store, there is no way to move it from there. So what? Well, for some reason, Apps are attached to a country, meaning that some apps are only available in a given country/store. And here is what happens when you move:
I myself moved from a couny to another, and then realised that I had either to buy all my old apps again in my new country or live without the news ones I wanted.
Besides the unbelievable rotten policy from Apple that will not "transfer" an app (I'm pretty sure it is illegal, but never bothered checking), I was surprised that it was even possible.
They have built commercial barriers within the EU!

Ideas: 

The idea is obvious: the free market should be applicable and enforced To any good purchased on the Internet within the EU!
It is probably already the case IN THEORY.
The idea then translates into MAKE IT HAPPEN

Tags: 
geo-blocking

Comments

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Adam WATSON BROWN's picture
Adam WATSON BROWN,
04/03/2015 12:49

I've contacted Apple's public affairs department to get a response. I wonder whether they will respond. devil

The decision to make an app available across Europe, or restrict it to certain Member States probably lies with the app owner. I can recall at least one UK newspaper app which was not available outside UK initially, when it first came out. I wonder whether restricted availability of some apps is covered by the app store or iTunes user licensing agreements which most people click-agree without reading. People have an increasing expectation that content should be available across the whole EU once it is made available in one Member State. This presupposes that organisations would have the resources to support users across the whole EU. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Total votes: 0