Digital distribution is getting a more and more important factor of the gaming industry which is started to be used in regions where it wasn't well spread. Probably most on the PC and services like Steam, Metaboli, Direct2Drive, etc. while the console versions of Xbox Live, PlayStation store, and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection still have a huge defect - there are unavailable in some regions (eg. my country and the countries nearby). To be exact, there are unavailable for our accounts what can be overcome by opening profiles with foreign addresses, but with restrictions in the purchase of games and other content.
On the other hand, the iPhone and appstore shows us every day the benefits of digital distribution and premise of instant-purchase and more importantly - buying content that is offered to all of us at the same time. No division by countries, regions, unions, cooperatives... that was the way we imagined the online distribution. Especially after Sony over four years ago announced that the PlayStation 3 will be region free for games.
But the reality is still a little different where the games are not fully free of the division by regions, even at the PlayStation 3 (for more information about regional lockouts visit this blog written by Canana), and if you want to use digital distribution on the consoles, it is necessary to create a fixed account on the server, depending on the region. Where the server in Germany will offer different content than the one in the UK. Not to mention US and Japan. Even the otherwise available PC services are starting to be more and more limited by regions because of differences in currency exchange rate.
These changes are making digital distribution more and more complex for the final users although its largest advantage should be simplicity and availability. Just the way appstore is doing which, as we already mentioned, offers the most content with the least restrictions. Locks per region on appstore mainly comes down to content that is fully adapted to the region while the rest is all available at the same time and at the same price. And away from you for just few touches on the screen.