https://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=143779
a long long time ago I rant about DVD region, making movies unavailable for sale, or even for watching, and case in point is "Where The Wild Things Are". Which is one of the best movie in it's year released.

Then I rant about MP3's, then audiobook (amazon own's) then ebook (also amazon).

Now google android app market. i bought garmin asus a50 for the gsp ( i've got my reason). this is for the fact gps only and gsp + android phone are not much different, and i could use new android based phone anyway.

after a while, and been downloading free app, I decided to buy some paid app. And here is the problem. A lot of country (or businesses) hate Malaysia, it seems (sarcastic). But of course, it could be the other way around too (market protection, eg: auto / car business - so if you saw a nice car on the net, but unavailable / undistributed locally, then you will have a hard time).

Anyway, Malaysian's can't buy paid app. So I'm totally out of office app such as Documents to go or QuickOffice. or many other cheap but usefull app. no matter how cheap the app is, if it not free, it can't be purchased or downloaded.

why are things like this happens? businesses doesn't want money? what even shocking is that i found out :

http://asia.cnet.com/what-your-android-phone-cant-do-in-asia-yet-62062326.htm

Malaysians originally can't even download free app. Now I don't know if my phone have been modified by the distributor so that at least the buyer can download free app (such as Angry Birds ) This is because my phone came with Market installed.

http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138294

Note that Malaysia is not under the free app either. Either google didn't update the list, or my distributor did some modification.

Trade, import and consumer laws making it really difficult and time consuming, or even an outright financial loss, to bring these services to other countries without a significant change to code / functionality / policies / marketing model etc.

Trade, import and consumer laws making it really difficult and time consuming, or even an outright financial loss, to bring these services to other countries without a significant change to code / functionality / policies / marketing model etc.

i know, i know, but the funny thing is: Singapore, which is our neighbor, can download both free and paid app. Second, if they don't allow us to buy or download app, then why make the phone available in this country? It's like willing to sell you PS3, but doesn't want to sell you PS3 games.

if it wasn't for the fact i can download free app (which is enough, save for office type app or other special app) i would have made a bru ha ha at consumer protection agency so that any advertisment for phone with android must came with disclaimer : cannot download market app.

thank god the main reason i purchased it was for the gps. if not i would have asked for a refund. i'm not in the mood for root or flash ram or whatnot just to be able to buy and use office type application or serious business app (such as business card capture and entering).

Anyway, Malaysian's can't buy paid app. ... why are things like this happens? businesses doesn't want money? what even shocking is that i found out :

Complain to your government.

[color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]Malaysian laws for import are nasty.[/font]
[color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"] [/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#333333"]The nation's tariffs are high and the IP laws have nationalistic restrictions. [/font][color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]I don't have too much of a problem with the tariffs because every nation uses them to encourage people to buy local products. [/font][color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]There are rather steep tariffs in place (in one case that I know of it was 40%), but the law also outright blocks many companies from selling in the country. [/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#333333"]
[/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#333333"]One relative had frequent business travel there; the big comments were about the automobile restriction and computer restrictions. Basically at the time the nation had banned foreign vehicles, but under a huge public pressure they allow a limited number of imports every year to bypass the ban. There were (at the time) other restrictions on computers. His equipment was tagged each time he entered the country and he needed a visa that allowed it for business use only. He told of warnings about getting his visa cancelled and other problems if he was caught using the machine for other reasons or selling software.[/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#333333"] [/font]
[color=#333333][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]I don't have direct knowledge of this, but it also seemed the government was fond of granting exclusivity to local businesses. Rather than just using tariffs to help favor trade, they would completely ban competition both foreign and domestic. He described many items as either the government-sanctioned monopoly version or the black-market version that he could get anywhere else in his world travels.[/font]

[quote name='FableFox' timestamp='1302162615' post='4795409']
Anyway, Malaysian's can't buy paid app. ... why are things like this happens? businesses doesn't want money? what even shocking is that i found out :

Complain to your government.

[color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]Malaysian laws for import are nasty.[/font]
[color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"] [/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#333333"]The nation's tariffs are high and the IP laws have nationalistic restrictions. [/font][color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]I don't have too much of a problem with the tariffs because every nation uses them to encourage people to buy local products. [/font][color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]There are rather steep tariffs in place (in one case that I know of it was 40%), but the law also outright blocks many companies from selling in the country. [/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"] [/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#333333"]One relative had frequent business travel there; the big comments were about the automobile restriction and computer restrictions. Basically at the time the nation had banned foreign vehicles, but under a huge public pressure they allow a limited number of imports every year to bypass the ban. There were (at the time) other restrictions on computers. His equipment was tagged each time he entered the country and he needed a visa that allowed it for business use only. He told of warnings about getting his visa cancelled and other problems if he was caught using the machine for other reasons or selling software.[/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"] [/font]
[color="#333333"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]I don't have direct knowledge of this, but it also seemed the government was fond of granting exclusivity to local businesses. Rather than just using tariffs to help favor trade, they would completely ban competition both foreign and domestic. He described many items as either the government-sanctioned monopoly version or the black-market version that he could get anywhere else in his world travels.[/font]
[/quote]


i don't really know about that since i've been buying software through the net for a while (game engines, libraries, etc) and internet is one of the thing that government promised not to block or censor. besides, IT are one of the few thing that the goverment is quie leweay with (including tax breaks, specially at cyberjaya), to improve it drastically.

anyway, now i'm out of office app, and business card scanner. need to find a free one that can do the job quite fine - which is could be hard, great thing comes with a price usually.