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Apple adds Rubles and other currencies to App Store, bumps minimum price to €0.89 in Europe
After announcing slightly under par financials, Apple has added more ways it can be paid for apps, though it also bumped the minimum freight to get one across Europe. The new lowest price users in France, Germany, Italy and other nations "over there" can pay for an app is now €0.89, a euro-dime bump from before -- apparently due to the weak euro and local tax hikes. On the other hand, Cupertino also added more currencies accepted at its store: South African Rand, Turkish Lira, Russian Rubles, Indian Rupees, Isreali New Shekel's, Saudi Arabian Riyal, Indonesian Rupish and UAE Dirham can all now be used to pay. Apple has tinkered with its prices before in varying amounts overseas depending on the nation, so you may want to check your own country's App Store for the news -- bad or good.
Valve and Xsolla set up more than 450,000 cash kiosks in Russia
Valve recently embraced the Russian Ruble to make Steam transactions easier for its Russian customers -- while this may have made it easier for Russian gamers to see how much things cost, that didn't mean it was any easier to buy said things, as much of the country uses cash. Unwilling to block an entire market from spending its money, Valve has teamed with Xsolla, a game-monetization company, to establish more than 450,000 cash kiosks in Russia, where users can add cash directly to their Steam Wallets. It's nice of companies to make spending money on their products so easy -- it's almost like charity work. Almost.
iPad launched in Russia today with very limited stock
Apple has officially launched the iPad in Russia today (or yesterday, if you happen to be in Russia at the moment). All six models are available from three retail chains including M.Video, Bely Veter and re:Store. There's quite a few strings attached to this launch, however. According to Tatar-inform, the iPad will only be on sale in five cities including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, and Kazan. Perhaps even worse for Russian Apple aficionados who hope to get their hands on an iPad is that there are only 3,000 to 4,000 iPads available in the country on launch, but Apple does plan to ship forty to fifty thousand units to Russia by the year's end. Prices range from 19,990 rubles (US$650) for the 16GB WiFi model to 32,990 rubles (US$1,075) for the 64GB WiFi+3G model. Those prices might seem high, but Tatar-inform says that when the iPad launched in the US in March, they almost immediately penetrated the Russian gray market and fetched prices as high as 100,000 rubles, or US$3,256, apiece. Thanks, Vlad!
