Apple disappoints Australians ... again

iTunes movie rentals, one of the big announcements from Macworld this week, will not be coming down under any time soon:

APPLE has unveiled its much-anticipated online video rental service, which lets viewers rent movies directly from their television. But the service will not be available in Australia.

Chief executive Steve Jobs said all major Hollywood studios had signed up to offer their movies. They include Paramount, Universal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, New Line and News Corp's Fox (News Corp is the owner of News Limited, publisher of The Australian).

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Apple has bad news for Australian movie lovers, however. ''The video rental service will not be introduced in Australia,'' Apple Australia spokesman John Marx said.

This stance will come as no surprise to long-suffering local Apple users.

The company's iTunes music download service, for example, took the best part of a year to make it Down Under after it was launched in the US and then Europe.

Australian iPod owners are still awaiting the ability to buy more than music video clips, long after US owners were able to purchase entire episodes of television shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives for their portable players.

Then there's the iPhone, launched with great ballyhoo in the US this time last year. This innovative phone has only in recent months become available in Europe, much less Australia.

Read more here (from The Australian).