As I mentioned in my previous posts I was born and raised in Russia. It's a great country that I admire, strictly for strong guys like Tony (who is helping me with this post) and myself. Russia is a country where official iPhone sales have failed and with a very low "Mac" penetration level...
Most of the Moscovites have already bought the illegal iPhones before the "2-nd" one officially arrived for the cool price of 24 thousands rubles ($900) for a "8Gb version". There is still no "$200 alternative". Previously, the "illegal version" of "iPhone 1" in Moscow and St.Pete cost around $650. While traveling by the Moscow metro I found that all the moscow ladies have at least two of them, and were trying to manage the iPhone keyboard with their long-nailed fingers... The second iPhone has been brought from the states like a "slave", began to sell for a price of $2000 just the same week it appeared in USA for $200. I have my "iPhone 1" which was legally bought in UK while being there but then "jailbreaken" and used in Russia. Speaking about the rich, I'll never go mad and buy this product for $900.
So, Russia just a few years before was a country with a rich and almost free digital consumption. Everyone was able to buy a hot movie for the price of $2-3 - almost anywhere. At last the new year of 2006 came and all of this monkey business stopped. The government closed all of the major pirate shop chains.
The minority started buying legal DVD's and brand-new "Blue-rays" but the rest "ex-pirate" customers have moved to the IP-networks and torrents.
Wiping the disc distribution from the streets, the government has completely destroyed the "monetization model" of the pirate-industry. The IP-Networks and Torrents have expanded the illegal sharing process even more than before - no need to pay 3 bucks and trip over bums in the metro.
Now Russians have access to the home IP-network full of stuff and nobody can force the IPS providers to shut it down. The official advertising of ISP says "new films and music free every day...".
I've already seen initiatives launching online music marketplaces, selling content with "WMA-DRM". I was a bit confused that there was so many music authors on those sites, that it's ridiculous to think that they have legal rights to sell the music.
Additionally I'd love to point out that movie downloading is still not considered a crime in Russia. There have been lawsuits against some "schoolboys" in small russian cities already, but it looks more like a showcase. The government is focusing too much attention on bootleg -CD's, because it's easier to control. The digital content is out of any kind of control.
So, it's not surprising that Apple launched the "Apple Store" in Russia with only "iPhone Apps" and no movies or music. It's not accessible and available for Russians. The only chance for law-obeying users from Russia to use the "Apple Store" is to cheat Apple by giving them a fake US-based home address and using a gift-cards to top-up the account or US-citizen credit card details - sounds as a total stupid joke to try something illegal to be legal. There is still a legislation problem that Apple has faced by coming to Russia.
From Russia With Love!
Finally Torrents. Sometimes Torrents are used just as a transport - for a rapid delivery of copyright-free content or an "Open Source". I'm not a lawyer, and not sure about what the current situation is concerning the use of Torrents in the States and Europe. Therefore, I know that they are widely used even when illegally recognized.
A year ago we were asked to make a "Due Diligence" of "online media marketplace" project focused on Russian-speaking Americans. The idea was to sell the national content over the internet directly to the Russian speaking population abroad. I stopped evaluating the project when I've discovered two points. The content already uploaded at the market place was up to date (the TV-shows that were broadcasted yesterday were already uploaded) and it was illegal for sure. The content was in "DivX" so no "DRM" and no hardware "boxes" that protect content from illegal distribution. Buy cheap and stolen - is a story of well-known "AllOfMp3.com".
The one other point that I've mentioned while searching this question, is that the major screen copies (called CAM's) are made in Russia. Just check the torrents of new films, it says "Russian Cam". It's interesting that somebody takes the english sound (that is easier to record for sure) and puts it in the russian video. I've never seen somebody with a camera in the cinema, and I'm quite sure that whoever appears with a camera in the theatre will be cheerfully beaten to death by the cinema owner before the police will arrive. So it's much easier to record the movie by the cinema staff themselves.
Most of the Moscovites have already bought the illegal iPhones before the "2-nd" one officially arrived for the cool price of 24 thousands rubles ($900) for a "8Gb version". There is still no "$200 alternative". Previously, the "illegal version" of "iPhone 1" in Moscow and St.Pete cost around $650. While traveling by the Moscow metro I found that all the moscow ladies have at least two of them, and were trying to manage the iPhone keyboard with their long-nailed fingers... The second iPhone has been brought from the states like a "slave", began to sell for a price of $2000 just the same week it appeared in USA for $200. I have my "iPhone 1" which was legally bought in UK while being there but then "jailbreaken" and used in Russia. Speaking about the rich, I'll never go mad and buy this product for $900.
So, Russia just a few years before was a country with a rich and almost free digital consumption. Everyone was able to buy a hot movie for the price of $2-3 - almost anywhere. At last the new year of 2006 came and all of this monkey business stopped. The government closed all of the major pirate shop chains.
The minority started buying legal DVD's and brand-new "Blue-rays" but the rest "ex-pirate" customers have moved to the IP-networks and torrents.
Wiping the disc distribution from the streets, the government has completely destroyed the "monetization model" of the pirate-industry. The IP-Networks and Torrents have expanded the illegal sharing process even more than before - no need to pay 3 bucks and trip over bums in the metro.
Now Russians have access to the home IP-network full of stuff and nobody can force the IPS providers to shut it down. The official advertising of ISP says "new films and music free every day...".
I've already seen initiatives launching online music marketplaces, selling content with "WMA-DRM". I was a bit confused that there was so many music authors on those sites, that it's ridiculous to think that they have legal rights to sell the music.
Additionally I'd love to point out that movie downloading is still not considered a crime in Russia. There have been lawsuits against some "schoolboys" in small russian cities already, but it looks more like a showcase. The government is focusing too much attention on bootleg -CD's, because it's easier to control. The digital content is out of any kind of control.
So, it's not surprising that Apple launched the "Apple Store" in Russia with only "iPhone Apps" and no movies or music. It's not accessible and available for Russians. The only chance for law-obeying users from Russia to use the "Apple Store" is to cheat Apple by giving them a fake US-based home address and using a gift-cards to top-up the account or US-citizen credit card details - sounds as a total stupid joke to try something illegal to be legal. There is still a legislation problem that Apple has faced by coming to Russia.
From Russia With Love!
Finally Torrents. Sometimes Torrents are used just as a transport - for a rapid delivery of copyright-free content or an "Open Source". I'm not a lawyer, and not sure about what the current situation is concerning the use of Torrents in the States and Europe. Therefore, I know that they are widely used even when illegally recognized.
A year ago we were asked to make a "Due Diligence" of "online media marketplace" project focused on Russian-speaking Americans. The idea was to sell the national content over the internet directly to the Russian speaking population abroad. I stopped evaluating the project when I've discovered two points. The content already uploaded at the market place was up to date (the TV-shows that were broadcasted yesterday were already uploaded) and it was illegal for sure. The content was in "DivX" so no "DRM" and no hardware "boxes" that protect content from illegal distribution. Buy cheap and stolen - is a story of well-known "AllOfMp3.com".
The one other point that I've mentioned while searching this question, is that the major screen copies (called CAM's) are made in Russia. Just check the torrents of new films, it says "Russian Cam". It's interesting that somebody takes the english sound (that is easier to record for sure) and puts it in the russian video. I've never seen somebody with a camera in the cinema, and I'm quite sure that whoever appears with a camera in the theatre will be cheerfully beaten to death by the cinema owner before the police will arrive. So it's much easier to record the movie by the cinema staff themselves.