Hi,
Forgive me if this is the wrong forum, but I thought it closest to topic.
I have a Vodafone NZ 'Google Experience' HTC Magic.
This phone was released in NZ back in late July, but as of yet we still have no access to paid apps in the Android Market.
It would appear we are not alone, as posts to the market help forum reveal similar concerns for the likes of Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Israel, Czech Republic and mainland China.
Now in and of itself I can accept a delay while all the nuts and bolts of international tax laws etc are worked out, but what is particulalrly galling here is the total lack of information on what is going on.
Locally, vodafone are polite but basically seem as much in the dark as I am. This seems strange given that Vodafone group obviously have a worldwide agreement with Google to market the Magic as a 'Google Experience' product.
Google simply don't respond personally on the forum and the only help comes from forum long timers who link to a page on the market site that is completely out of date - it has had the same typos for months!
As far as I can work out, availability of paid apps to customers seems to be somehow coupled to whether developers in your country can submit paid apps to the market at large. I'm sure there is a reason for this, but it seems pretty weird, given that Google Checkout works in NZ already.
If Google are serious about taking on the iPhone store, then they really need to address this urgently, crippling their users by only allowing distribution of paid apps in half a dozen (mostly European) markets is crazy - especially given the enormous potential of markets like China, which doesn't have the iPhone.
The other worrying aspect is the lack of professionalism in the handling of this by whoever is responsible for the Market project. If Google wants to play with the big boys then they need to start behaving like grown-ups and take some lessons in customer service.
Forgive me if this is the wrong forum, but I thought it closest to topic.
I have a Vodafone NZ 'Google Experience' HTC Magic.
This phone was released in NZ back in late July, but as of yet we still have no access to paid apps in the Android Market.
It would appear we are not alone, as posts to the market help forum reveal similar concerns for the likes of Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Israel, Czech Republic and mainland China.
Now in and of itself I can accept a delay while all the nuts and bolts of international tax laws etc are worked out, but what is particulalrly galling here is the total lack of information on what is going on.
Locally, vodafone are polite but basically seem as much in the dark as I am. This seems strange given that Vodafone group obviously have a worldwide agreement with Google to market the Magic as a 'Google Experience' product.
Google simply don't respond personally on the forum and the only help comes from forum long timers who link to a page on the market site that is completely out of date - it has had the same typos for months!
As far as I can work out, availability of paid apps to customers seems to be somehow coupled to whether developers in your country can submit paid apps to the market at large. I'm sure there is a reason for this, but it seems pretty weird, given that Google Checkout works in NZ already.
If Google are serious about taking on the iPhone store, then they really need to address this urgently, crippling their users by only allowing distribution of paid apps in half a dozen (mostly European) markets is crazy - especially given the enormous potential of markets like China, which doesn't have the iPhone.
The other worrying aspect is the lack of professionalism in the handling of this by whoever is responsible for the Market project. If Google wants to play with the big boys then they need to start behaving like grown-ups and take some lessons in customer service.
