Developers can select the country app stores their apps are available in. It was...

fakeer · on Oct 4, 2012

Yes, that's right. It's pointless to release an app in some country where it won't work or won't have much value.

veidr · on Oct 4, 2012

I guess that's the thinking, but there are sizable expat populations in a lot of countries.

For example there are 3 million foreign residents here in Japan, and fully 165% of them have iPhones and 195% of those want train routing apps.*

(*: all figures based on anecdotes and extrapolation)

gurkendoktor · on Oct 4, 2012

Why? To use the examples of the grandparent comment: there are always overseas Japanese who want to cook, or tourists who want to use a local navigation app. I can only come up with legal reasons, or bandwidth preservation maybe.