for the Nexus 7 launch Canada is only a few weeks behind the US
"Only"? In comparison, Apple ships to a large number of nations simultaneously. I got my iPad shipped (from China, which is also where those Nexus 7s are coming from) the same day that US buyers got theirs shipped.
Such is how international companies usually operate.
I like Google the company, but they are incredibly provincial and out of step when it comes to these things. If they lack manpower to do international releases, perhaps they should hire the appropriate people instead of constantly treating the rest of the world as an afterthought.
Apple has delayed shipping to other countries many times. e.g. I got the first iPad the day it became available in the UK (I pre-ordered). That was about 6 weeks after the US launch. As far as I recall it was actually two weeks later than they originally scheduled for the UK launch.
Demand for these products is very high and producing them in large quantities while trying to keep them a surprise is difficult. If Apple, a company that is a hardware business has trouble with this it's hardly surprising Google a web software and advertising company would have problems.
Google doesn't make or design the Nexus 7, but rather Asus does (or at least Asus is the brand behind it, though they likely offload actual manufacturing to Foxconn or similes). Nor does Google manufacture, warehouse, or ship these products (which one experiences when they try to do any sort of service requests on Nexus devices, to instead be direct to HTC or Samsung or Asus).
Google constantly and egregiously fails to see a world beyond the US as being important to their initiatives. It took a ridiculously long time for customers outside of the US to buy apps on the Android Market (it remains seriously limited), and was significantly worse for those who want to sell on the market. With each of these hardware releases, it's the US and then, maybe some day, the rest of the world. That's Google's prerogative, and they're based on the US, but every time they do that they incrementally offend the rest of the world.
"Only"? In comparison, Apple ships to a large number of nations simultaneously. I got my iPad shipped (from China, which is also where those Nexus 7s are coming from) the same day that US buyers got theirs shipped.
Such is how international companies usually operate.
I like Google the company, but they are incredibly provincial and out of step when it comes to these things. If they lack manpower to do international releases, perhaps they should hire the appropriate people instead of constantly treating the rest of the world as an afterthought.