Spotify has expanded its music service to reach customers in Australia and New Zealand. As of today, both Southern Hemisphere countries will be able to use the streaming service, and will have country-specific apps offering curated music playlists. The launch takes place three months after Spotify first arrived in Germany.
Kim Dotcom, Megaupload's beleaguered founder, will have some of his assets returned. Judge Judith Potter, the New Zealand High Court judge assigned to the asset seizure issue, reversed her previous decision on the matter and declared that a court-ordered seizure in January and a backup order filed in February were invalid and should not be enforced.
The third-generation iPad is now on sale in an additional 25 countries. The emphasis is mostly on Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden are included. The only non-European countries are in fact Macau, Mexico, and New Zealand.
Acer's New Zealand division has confirmed that the Iconia Tab A500 will not receive an Android 4.0 upgrade until sometime in April. The announcement was directed at users in Australia and New Zealand, rather than the company's global customers, leaving the release timing unclear for other regions.
Apple's Time Capsule routers are seeing delays or shortages in different parts of the world, notes 9to5Mac. The company's online stores in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, and France are sometimes seeing delivery times of one to three weeks for 3TB models, or one- to two-week delays for 2TB routers. Third-party vendors Amazon and Best Buy are out of 3TB models, and some Australian Apple Stores may be completely out of stock.
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has accused law enforcement authorities of using excessive force when he was arrested at his New Zealand residence on January 19. Dotcom claims the officers that entered his home were "quite aggressive" and punched him in the face, kicked him and stepped on his hands, according to a 3 News report.
Apple is engaging in a rare Boxing Week sale on the iTunes Store. Boxing Day takes place on December 26th in Australia, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand. The Boxing Week promotion is already active, however, if only in Canada.
Following a botched rollout on Wednesday, Apple has today officially expanded iTunes Match to Canada and the UK. In Canada the service costs $28 a year, while in the UK annual pricing is set at £22. Unlike regular iCloud options, iTunes Match allows a person to mirror and remotely access their entire music library, regardless of whether the content is on iTunes.
The iPad 2 is now on sale through Apple's Australia and New Zealand online stores. Within the latter country, Wi-Fi iPads are priced at $799 NZ for 16GB, $949 for 32GB, and $1,099 for 64GB. 3G models are $998, $1,149 and $1,289, respectively.
Apple has confirmed plans to release the iPhone 4 in 17 more regions on Friday. In North America, Canada will finally get the device; the bulk of additional launches are in Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Elsewhere, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore will begin sales.
Clearing up a formerly ambiguous timetable, Apple has announced that the international launch of the iPad is now set for May 28th. Nine regions will get the tablet initially: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. A second wave is only expected in July, including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.
Apple is continuing to negotiate contracts for the next-generation iPhone, even as an anticipated announcement at WWDC approaches, information from New Zealand reveals. Using its Twitter feed, Telecom New Zealand has stated that it is not only in negotiations with Apple, but "very focused on the 3rd gen iPhone." The accuracy of the tweet has been reinforced by the carrier's retail chief, Alan Gourdie, who tells New Zealand's National Business Review that TNZ is in "deep discussions" with Apple.
Microsoft is preparing to sell a red-colored version of its Xbox 360 console, a company memo has inadvertently revealed. Sent to retailers and the press in New Zealand, the memo nominally revolves a special promotion in which gamers will gain a free copy of Halo Wars if they buy a 360 between February 26th and March 26th; the game will otherwise cost $100 NZD. Also mentioned, however, is that the bundle "does not apply to the Red Xbox 360 Elite console which is exclusive to EB games."
(Updated with correction) A used iPod bought by a New Zealand man, Chris Ogle, has been found to contain critical US military data, according to reports from the region. While unable to play music, the $15 iPod was found by Ogle to contain 60 pages of material related to US personnel, mission briefings and equipment deployments. The information mostly dates back to 2005, but contains names and personal data that remain relevant.
A New Zealand-based Apple reseller, MagnumMac, has recently purchased a new building for occupation. Construction has already begun on the new storefront, which will be located in the center of Auckland's Newmarket shopping district, on the corner of Broadway and Khyber Pass. The location will serve as a replacement to a previous site in Newton, for which the lease expires in December. Existing customers have raised some concerns about the area's bad parking, but are claimed to understand the appeal of such a high-profile location. MagnumMac says it hopes to model the Newmarket shop after Apple's successful US-based stores, where the customer experience is highest priority.
The first iPhone 3Gs have gone on sale in New Zealand, early reports say. The information comes courtesy of "iPhone Jonny," who claims to be one of the first in the world to buy the device, having waited several days in line in front of a Vodafone New Zealand outlet. The wait is said to have been particularly unpleasant, as New Zealand is currently in winter and it recently experienced one of its coldest days this year. Vodafone is charging a standard $199 NZD for an iPhone.
With a little over three days to go before the iPhone 3G sees its launch, Apple has clarified a time where customers can find the device in its retail stores, while potential New Zealand and Mexican iPhone customers can now browse official rates. Apple silently placed a notice on its retail homepage, saying that customers can get the long-awaited device at its US retail stores at 8AM on July 11th, coinciding with AT&T's previously announced morning launch.
Vodafone New Zealand revealed on Monday that the iPhone 3G in New Zealand will be priced at $199NZD (around USD$150) when purchased with a 24-month contract. With stocks expected to be "strictly limited," the company has to disclose the its rate plans for the new device, but is expected to announce a significant tariff restructuring in the next few days, moving away from the traditionally high data costs seen in the country. Previous price plans have seen charges of up to NZD$10 per 1MB of data, with dedicated 200MB bundles costing NZD$35, however, this is expected to drop to a more manageable cost of around NZD$10 per 10MB used for casual users. Like O2 in the UK, Vodaphone is promising that will be able to pre-order the iPhone 3G in the next few days.
Despite a series of conflicting news releases, Vodafone has confirmed that there will not be a pay-as-you-go version of the iPhone 3G available in New Zealand. NZMac.com first spotted the confusion in statements from Vodafone and Apple New Zealand which announced both contract and prepaid versions of the iPhone in various press releases. Vodafone cleared things up this morning, saying only the contract versions will be available in New Zealand and Portugal beginning in July 11.
Apple on Tuesday further expanded its international iTunes U offerings into four new countries: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. According to Macworld, the free resource provides students with access to a wide variety of educational rich media from colleges and universities around the world, including UC Berkeley, University of Melbourne, Texas A&M, MIT, Yale, and Trinity College Dublin, among many others.
An expansion to New Zealand's cellular networks may open the way for the iPhone, a research firm observes. TeleGeography says it has learned from Telecom New Zealand's director of mobile operations, Martin Butler, that it is a "good inference" that the company will bring over the iPhone. It is in the middle of building a new, $300 million NZD ($241.2 million US) GSM/EDGE network, which should support the 850MHz frequency of the iPhone. Commercial rollout of the network is expected sometime in November, and should reach 97 percent of New Zealand's population.
