ITunes Music and Book Stores Launch Across Europe
The store's still not very well stocked, but now you can pay Apple for DRM-ed books in most of Europe
Apple has pushed its iTunes music store into the last corners of Europe, launching the store in the twelve EU member countries still without it. Now iTunes users in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia will now be able to buy music from Apple, just eight and a half years after it first opened for business.
These aren’t the only rumblings in iTunes, either. The iBookstore is also moving into new territories, adding 25 new territories. These are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland, according to author Liz Castro, who compiled the list from a new drop-down for publishers that lets them choose where their books are sold.
Previously, paid-for books were only available in the U.S, UK, France, Germany, Australia, and Canada. Everywhere else got free Project Gutenberg titles.
I checked in at the Spanish store and there are indeed a bunch of books in there, although not many. Last night there was one title for sale — Davis Allen’s Getting Things Done. The fact that stock is now increasing makes me think that some Spanish Apple engineer may have read it (rimshot).
Lack of any kind of announcement from Apple means that your best bet is to just check in on the various stores over the next few days and see if anything has changed. And if anyone in a country not listed above sees the new stores, let us know in the comments.
Apple’s iBookstore opens in 25 new countries [Pigs, Gourds and Wikis]
iTunes Music Store Goes Live In 12 More EU Countries, iBookstore Coming To More Countries Soon [Mac Stories]
See Also:
iBooks Store Loaded with Project Gutenberg Titles at Launch …
Kobo Beats iBooks with International iPad Bookstore, App
Via: Gadget Lab
