The Apple Expo is Europe's Apple conference -- similar to the Macworld expo in the US. Apple Expo '08 has posted details about the expo, including dates for this year's conference: Wednesday, September 17 through Saturday, September 20, in Paris, France.
Currently, there are only two iPhone events scheduled out of the over 30 planned events. It is a nice change to see that the iPhone will not "steal the show" in Europe like it does at Apple conferences in the US. You can see all of the details, exhibitors, and scheduled events on the Apple Expo website.
We may not have movies in the U.K. iTunes store, but that hasn't stopped the UK broadcasters from slowly but surely adding their wares to the UK shop. First the BBC pitched in with a selection of shows such as 'Spooks' (it airs in the US as 'MI:5') and then Channel 4 added the likes of Black Books (amongst others). So today adding to the mix is commercial broadcaster ITV, which has added 'Lewis', 'Goodnight Mr Tom', 'Brideshead Revisited', 'Cold Feet', 'The Saint' and 'Captain Scarlet' to the UK store.
That may not sound like a great deal of content, however ITV is clearly looking to milk the archive shows for all they're worth. Apple UK's Hot News quotes Dawn Airey from ITV: "[We have] thousands of hours of classic content in the archive which we are bringing to a whole new audience via iTunes". and then leaves us with the perennial teaser of "Watch out for more great additions coming soon on iTunes".
As usual, iTunes UK TV show pricing of £1.89 (US$3.75) an episode applies to all the ITV content.
More portents of 3G iPhones on the way? Or just a clearing of slow-moving stock on the entry level phone? Either way, if you're a Brit with a yearning for an iPhone, the cost of entry just got lowered. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
British readers listen up! If you're a resident west of London, your choices for UK Apple Stores are -- shall we say -- somewhat limited. With just one store in the southwestern part of the UK (Exeter), and one on the south coast in Southampton, Apple's retail clout has yet to extend to the area in between (such as to other larger cities like Bristol). Fear not though, as Apple is indeed planning to open an Apple Store in Bristol later in the year.
Apple has posted job vacancies for the (to be determined) location just today - meaning that the store will likely open in advance of Christmas. If you hear anything about the location, be sure to let us know.
Thanks to all those who sent this in!
Update: Multiple tipsters say the Cabot Circus development (scheduled to open in September) is home to the new store. Thanks folks!
Apple opened a new retail store at Midsummer Place, Milton Keynes this weekend (that's in the UK, Buckinghamshire to be precise). As usual, we asked any TUAW operatives who may have attended to share their reports and/or pictures. So, did you go, and if you did, how was it? Let us know in the comments. Here's hoping you scored a T-shirt or even the Opening Day Contest's grand prize.
If you haven't gone down to the store yet, when you do get there, show us a little love and set the in-store machines to TUAW for their Safari homepage! Apple Store employees love that.
Have you seen this commercial? If you are in the US, probably not as it's a "Get a Mac" commercial from the UK. Chances are, you probably won't be seeing any more of them, either. On the UK Apple website, the Get a Mac ads have been taken down to reveal just a web page displaying reasons to switch.
It's no secret that the Apple's UK ads have been underfire, and the ads haven't been showing as frequently on TV in the UK. What do you think, should Apple rethink their marketing plans in other countries? Be sure to sound off in the comments!
As Erica previewed earlier, the expected cash register reconciliation between the iTunes UK store and the other European stores is officially in the works, press release below. Interesting to note that Apple is throwing down the gauntlet with the labels on UK vs. Eurozone wholesale music pricing, so that we might see some subtractions from the UK store if the labels don't jump in line.
LONDON-January 9, 2008-Apple® today announced that within six months it will lower the prices it charges for music on its UK iTunes® Store to match the already standardised pricing on iTunes across Europe in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Apple currently must pay some record labels more to distribute their music in the UK than it pays them to distribute the same music elsewhere in Europe. Apple will reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK with any record label that does not lower its wholesale prices in the UK to the pan-European level within six months.
"This is an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing."
Insanely Great Mac has the breakdown on a meeting between O2 (purveyors of the iPhone in Britain) and Mr. Jobs from the UK's Financial Times, and it seems iPhone users across the pond can't get enough data. Over 60% of iPhone users use over 25mb/month of data, while only 1.8% of non-iPhone users on O2 go over that mark. That's a lot of data downloading.
It's probably not a surprise, then, that about 60% of iPhone buyers are also new to O2, which, in my estimation, means that people who switched for the iPhone also switched from a non-data cellphone, and are making up for the difference. We talked on the Talkcast a little while ago about how the iPhone isn't necessarily stealing the "business smartphone" audience away from brands like Blackberry-- it's actually attracting new smartphone users completely. And there are a lot of them-- O2 is looking to sell 200,000 iPhones in Britain by the end of January, and they say that despite Apple's cut of the profits, they're making money on every one.
Finally, we get almost-but-not-quite-final confirmation that the 3G iPhone is due next year, and that O2 will very likely carry it. Which isn't really a surprise-- seems like things are going pretty well for O2 and Apple in GB, and so it's hard to see either one of them breaking up a good thing.
Greetings TUAW readers, from our temporary HQ located just outside London's Regent Street store. Yes, that's right: we're live from London until 6:02pm tomorrow, updated as and when yours truly isn't too busy consuming food (or caffeine for that matter). If you're in-line for an iPhone somewhere in the U.K. and have a tip to share, be sure to link to photos in the comments or hit us up on our tips form.
The Sydney Morning Herald has been doing a little poking around the city council blueprints office, and they've come back with an artists' representation of what the new Apple Store will look like there-- a huge glass cube, basically, embedded in the building. A few people who sent it to us (thanks!) said there was supposed to be a huge Apple hanging in the window, but I don't see it. I believe it'll be there, though-- the New York store has a similar design, and the SMH article does mention that big white Apple logo.
It also mentions that Apple is going to stick a huge crane in the street to set up all that glass, and that the store will have three full levels, with the top level going to the Genius Bar. Also nice to see that Apple is tight-lipped about mentioning the store to the newspaper, making them (I'm pretty sure) the only company ever to keep the lid shut on an upcoming retail location. I'm sure the folks from Wal-mart would love to chat with the media about one of their new stores.
Still, it'll be nice for you Aussies to have somewhere to go and get your iPhones, MacBooks, and Cinema Displays-- the UK store has already hit 10 million visitors. Word is that the Sydney store will open sometime after mid-2008.
Alan dropped a quick note about a chance for our UK readers to get a free iTunes song. Those of you overseas may have been complaining that Apple treats you like second class citizens, but Britons, worry not, because they're bribing you with a song. Send an SMS with the words "ROCK," "POP," "LIVE," or "ITUNES" to 85100, and Apple will send you back a code for a free song on the iTunes UK store.
The promotion ends on September 30th, so you've got to get it done quick, and this is definitely a YMMV situation. It won't work outside of the UK, and I even tried to send the code using iChat, but no dice -- apparently it has to come from a phone number there. It's not exactly free, either -- as you may have figured out, it's actually the cost of sending and receiving an SMS. If that's more than £0.99, it's not worth it.
But if you're in the UK and have an itchy SMS finger, send it along and see what happens.
Apple opened a new retail store in Glasgow, UK this weekend. As usual, we asked any TUAW operatives who may have attended to share their reports and/or pictures. So, did you go, and if you did, how was it? Let us know in the comments. Here's hoping you scored a T-shirt or even the Opening Day Contest's grand prize!
If you haven't gone down to the store yet, show us a little love and set the in-store Macs to TUAW!
While the Glasgow Apple Store is set to open on Saturday, August 25th, a few lucky people - like TUAW reader Mo - were invited to a sneak peek opening for friends and family.
Attention, residents of Glasgow! It has been confirmed by several TUAW tipsters (as well as ifoAppleStore) that the Buchanan Street Apple Store will open on Saturday, August 25th at 9 a.m. The usual commemorative T-shirts will be available, as well as a Grand Opening contest with some very nice prizes.
If you attend, please share your photos and stories! Good luck and have fun. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Inside the iTunes localisation strings, is the following sequence:
/* ===== iPhone Game Item Strings ===== */ "4329.001" = "Are you sure you want to remove the selected game from your iPhone?"; "4329.002" = "Are you sure you want to remove the selected games from your iPhone?";
This basically confirms that Apple is bringing games to the iPhone. The only question, however, is: Which games? Are we going to get more Sims Bowling (ugh), or will Apple's new friends at id actually hook them up with something cool?
I'll leave it at this: if Apple can get Doom on the iPhone faster than the hackers can, I'll finally cave in and pick one up. Of course, that's a win-win proposition-- no matter what happens, iPhone-owners will be playing Doom. But if Apple wants my money, I want some games worth playing in return.
The Apple Expo is Europe's Apple conference -- similar to the Macworld expo in the US. Apple Expo '08 has posted details about the expo, including dates for this year's conference: Wednesday, September 17 through Saturday, September 20, in Paris, France.
We may not have movies in the U.K. iTunes store, but that hasn't stopped the UK broadcasters from slowly but surely adding their wares to the UK shop. First the 
On the heels of 
Apple opened a new retail store at 
As 
Insanely Great Mac 
The Sydney Morning Herald has been doing a little poking around the city council blueprints office, and they've 
Alan dropped a quick note about a chance for our UK readers to get a free 
Apple 
Attention, residents of Glasgow! It has been confirmed by several TUAW tipsters (
In response to the rumor of videos in to the iTunes UK store
