Napster in surprise UK launch

[sde]

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Digital download service Napster has scored a major victory over archrival iTunes by launching in Britain, the first of the high-flying Internet music stores to make their European debut.

In a move that surprised many in the industry, Napster announced that as of Thursday the music download and song-streaming service would be live to users in Britain only.

It kept the launch date a tight secret, previously saying only it would make its UK arrival by the end of summer.

Officials from Apple Computer, which runs the wildly popular iTunes service in the United States, declined to elaborate on their European launch plans, saying only it will be by the end of the year.

Official Story Here

[Epsilon]

I must be missing something. Why is it necessary to launch in Europe in order to sell to Europeans? They can access the U.S. web site, and currency conversions are done automatically with credit cards. There's no shipping involved nor is there a lack of bandwidth between the continents.

So somebody fill me in?