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The App Store Nightmare

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Re: The App Store Nightmare

#31

Post by edvinbesic »

Apple and the Cloud have never got along well, so I don't think this is a move from Apple to make your life miserable, rather I think it's just that their account system is well... shit, but there are ways to work around it.

I was in exactly the same boat a little over a year ago, so I will simply write this with the assumption that not much has changed. When I was moving to the states from Sweden I did some research into what to do with my iTunes account, and found a large number of discussions going on about the subject. The common suggestion was that once you change region, you should do a clean install on your iOS device or OSX and install it in the new region from scratch. If you change region and try to update things will get messy pretty fast, or so I was told.

He's right that you lose all records of installed apps, but if you try to buy them again in the new region, Apple does recognize that you already own the app and does not charge for it again. It's a shame that things on the internet are region-bound, it's one thing I hope will disappear in the not too distant future, but for now such is life (applies to music/movies as well).

Apart from the above annoyance though it has worked great so far, my account is the same as if I had created a US one from scratch. Also, i'm pretty sure I could update my US bought apps and rent movies on iTunes when I was in sweden 2 months ago, so not sure what the whole IP thing is.

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#32

Post by Claudus »

Every time I read another news article about Apple's crippling DRM systems, I am reminded of the words from their 1984 commercial...

"Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology – where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death, and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!"

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#33

Post by cageface »

crazygringo wrote: post #13

Oh tell me about it. I used to split my time between the US and Brazil, and had credit cards and bank accounts in both. Sometimes apps I'd want would only be on one store, and sometimes only on the other. But Apple simply doesn't allow for people who reside in multiple countries, and have credit cards in multiple countries. I guess that lifestyle doesn't fit the "Apple way" -- it's thinking too different. It's absolu…

You never really own anything you buy from iTunes, Amazon Digital, Google Play etc. You're really just renting.

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#34

Post by Dylan16807 »

nirvana wrote: post #30
onosendai wrote: post #7

The writing's been on the wall for a very long time now. This is just another symptom of the continuing clamp down of OS X. The App Store was the first manacle, and Gatekeeper is the second. It's no longer the default that you can install apps from outside the Apple walled garden. I'll go out on a limb and guess that a couple of OS X versions from now they'll move the override to an obscure command line. The next one…

> I'll go out on a limb and guess It isn't on a limb to repeat the nonsensical accusations that your ideology has been spewing all over hacker news for the past four years (and everywhere else too.) Of course its also something that would never happen, if you are honest about how Apple operates. You can even install unregulated software on a stock iPhone..... just downloaded from the net. Javascript Apps were there a…

Oh that's wonderful, the entire UI. Not the hardware, can't go very fast, but you have the UI!

Something that's as sandboxed as a web page is not a proper program. If that's the only thing you can install without explicit apple approval then it's not good enough.

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#35

Post by cageface »

nirvana wrote: post #27

I travel full time, and have been living all over the world for the past four years and never had this problem. From Romania to Chile, Venice to England wherever I am, my iTunes works the way I'd expect. Compared to HULU and Netflix, Apple is one of the best in this regard. I have to get on a VPN to the USA to use my HULU or Netflix accounts, but iTunes just works, globally. I have a US itunes account, and use it in…

I've had no end of problems with them while traveling in SE Asia, including having my account locked several times. If I didn't have a few friends inside Apple put in a word for me I think it's very likely my account would still be locked, with absolutely no explanation as to why.

I've learned the hard way not to go anywhere near the iTunes store without a VPN back to the U.S.

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#36

Post by ddlatham »

crazygringo wrote: post #13

Oh tell me about it. I used to split my time between the US and Brazil, and had credit cards and bank accounts in both. Sometimes apps I'd want would only be on one store, and sometimes only on the other. But Apple simply doesn't allow for people who reside in multiple countries, and have credit cards in multiple countries. I guess that lifestyle doesn't fit the "Apple way" -- it's thinking too different. It's absolu…

Apple is all about streamlining and optimizing for the common case. Not providing options for the minority with different preferences. If your lifestyle doesn't match, then you're doing it wrong.

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#37

Post by alexsb92 »

ddlatham wrote: post #36
crazygringo wrote: post #13

Oh tell me about it. I used to split my time between the US and Brazil, and had credit cards and bank accounts in both. Sometimes apps I'd want would only be on one store, and sometimes only on the other. But Apple simply doesn't allow for people who reside in multiple countries, and have credit cards in multiple countries. I guess that lifestyle doesn't fit the "Apple way" -- it's thinking too different. It's absolu…

Apple is all about streamlining and optimizing for the common case. Not providing options for the minority with different preferences. If your lifestyle doesn't match, then you're doing it wrong.

That doesn't mean that people can't complain about it. They could have easily supported multiple locations and credit cards and still streamline the process, and the only users who'd have to deal with it are the ones who need to use the feature.

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#38

Post by gurkendoktor »

cageface wrote: post #33
crazygringo wrote: post #13

Oh tell me about it. I used to split my time between the US and Brazil, and had credit cards and bank accounts in both. Sometimes apps I'd want would only be on one store, and sometimes only on the other. But Apple simply doesn't allow for people who reside in multiple countries, and have credit cards in multiple countries. I guess that lifestyle doesn't fit the "Apple way" -- it's thinking too different. It's absolu…

You never really own anything you buy from iTunes, Amazon Digital, Google Play etc. You're really just renting.

I think that's a bit misleading because iTunes and Amazon also sell DRM-free music, which I don't know the legal implications of, but at least there are no ridiculous technical problems here.

Also, if the App Store _sold_ software, that still wouldn't mean that the upgrade process would necessarily be flawless. (OTOH, then we could all just use Sparkle again, which has worked without a hitch for me since 10.4.)

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#39

Post by hwatson »

> If you’re in the US, you can’t download updates for your non-US apps due to IP address constraints.

That's odd. I live in the Dominican Republic and I've been using a US iTunes Store account since 2008. Even when the Dominican iTunes Store opened earlier this year I wasn't affected, I'm still able to purchase/update apps like normal. I don't have a DO iTunes Store account so I guess that has something to do with it.

Re: The App Store Nightmare

#40

Post by tomflack »

nirvana wrote: post #27

I travel full time, and have been living all over the world for the past four years and never had this problem. From Romania to Chile, Venice to England wherever I am, my iTunes works the way I'd expect. Compared to HULU and Netflix, Apple is one of the best in this regard. I have to get on a VPN to the USA to use my HULU or Netflix accounts, but iTunes just works, globally. I have a US itunes account, and use it in…

> But it isn't Apple that is making them tied to regions, this is a requirement of the record and movie industries who seem to think that price and release discrimination by region makes sense.

It is also a problem for Apps. There are loads of apps available in some countries but not others. It's up to the app developer to make them available globally. I understand not wanting to offer your app in countries where it won't work, but it's super annoying when you visit or move to another country to not be able to access them.

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