The customer experience of international App Stores

Since the release of the iPhone in 2007 the application software development approach has exploded and fuelled the rise of the smart phone with other platforms following this model. While iTunes had been in place with Apple since 2001 this application based solution has seen the software industry changed forever as a result. It is this mobile application usage of iTunes that I am looking at today and its usage on iPhones, iPads and iPods.  The Daddy of this being the desktop version is something for another day. The experience of using the App Store for your smart phone unlocked the cloud to the masses and created a new wave of developers with kids in their bedrooms competing with mainstream software houses. For the end consumer this has meant a wealth of choices as the volume of applications has continued to grow requiring intelligent search services to find the most suited apps. The App Store of iTunes has been distributed with local models so there is no global store. You have a local account and can download within that geographical constraint. This makes a lot of sense and permits greater localisation of applications based on geographical needs. Problems arise however as more developers are releasing their applications globally so they are present in all app stores even though as a consumer I can't download these. This is a poor result for a solution that has been a game changer and needs tighter control so apps are only released in the local area where they can be bought and used. Apple needs to step in now and protect this epic customer experience.