I can imagine several reasons why the European situation is different from the US. First of all, many of the "best" services aren't available here for practical (e.g. Amazon Prime; with the exception of some EU countries like Germany) or legal reasons (e.g. anything to do with content distribution apart from the likes of iTunes). Most consumers will pay for content, but in Europe the options are limited and often come restricted to a particular platform (iTunes).
Another reason is payments. Credit cards are a lot less common here and the culture regarding them is quite different from what you see in the US. A lot of the American-centric services require credit cards which means they are simply not an option for many Europeans. That being said, alternative payment options are becoming increasingly mainstream (e.g. iDEAL[0]).
Another big factor is culture and generational differences. For example, a lot of kids here buy stuff through their phones, using paid text messages (e.g. ringtones and games).
You have to be careful when using your immediate social environment as a benchmark. I assume that in the US online service consumption is quite different in rural Indiana compared to the situation in California, for example. We're both Dutch and it is part of our culture and Calvinist heritage to not want to seem wasteful by spending money on frivolous crap.
People only want to spend money on something that gives them some kind of tangible benefit (including entertainment). This explains why online shopping is already huge in Europe, because it is the most straight forward deal in terms that non-technical people understand very well: you pay for physical goods. As I mentioned before, our (legal) online media consumption is hindered by a myriad of licensing issues[1]. This explains why normal people don't subscribe to the likes of Hulu here. But the younger generations do tend to spend money on gaming subscriptions and perks (e.g. paid items). Regular people mostly spend money on entertainment, so that is why your relations aren't paying for things like Github. Their employers, or schools, however, are. Services targeting professional users are doing quite well here.
[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL
[1]: And, possibly, by the fact that downloading content "illegal" isn't necessarily illegal in many EU jurisdictions (and otherwise not really prosecuted).
Another reason is payments. Credit cards are a lot less common here and the culture regarding them is quite different from what you see in the US. A lot of the American-centric services require credit cards which means they are simply not an option for many Europeans. That being said, alternative payment options are becoming increasingly mainstream (e.g. iDEAL[0]).
Another big factor is culture and generational differences. For example, a lot of kids here buy stuff through their phones, using paid text messages (e.g. ringtones and games). You have to be careful when using your immediate social environment as a benchmark. I assume that in the US online service consumption is quite different in rural Indiana compared to the situation in California, for example. We're both Dutch and it is part of our culture and Calvinist heritage to not want to seem wasteful by spending money on frivolous crap.
People only want to spend money on something that gives them some kind of tangible benefit (including entertainment). This explains why online shopping is already huge in Europe, because it is the most straight forward deal in terms that non-technical people understand very well: you pay for physical goods. As I mentioned before, our (legal) online media consumption is hindered by a myriad of licensing issues[1]. This explains why normal people don't subscribe to the likes of Hulu here. But the younger generations do tend to spend money on gaming subscriptions and perks (e.g. paid items). Regular people mostly spend money on entertainment, so that is why your relations aren't paying for things like Github. Their employers, or schools, however, are. Services targeting professional users are doing quite well here.
[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL [1]: And, possibly, by the fact that downloading content "illegal" isn't necessarily illegal in many EU jurisdictions (and otherwise not really prosecuted).