iPhone 101 (Canadian edition): Don't forget to sync with iTunes

For the past year when it comes to the iPhone, us Canadians have had to watch enviously as our American neighbors got to have all the fun. Well, no more! As of today I have joined the ranks of the enlightened -- at least, my wallet has been "lightened".

I am, like many of you, a software junkie. As such, one of things I am really excited about is the App Store. Imagine my surprise today when I tried to access it from my gleaming new device, only to run into an error message when I attempted to download my first app. The error stated "Your account is only valid for purchases in the Canadian iTunes Store." Huh?

My first thought was, "this darn thing has GPS on it, doesn't it know I'm in Canada?" So I went looking in the international settings on the phone, and sure enough the region format was set to United States. I dutifully changed it to Canada and tried again, to be met again with the same error.

At this point I should mention that I had, up until this point, not synchronized my iPhone with iTunes. I had not planned to, since my MacBook Pro is currently down for the count with a dead video card, and it will be a week before the Apple Store has one in stock to repair my machine.

Frustrated by my inability to download apps, I finally threw caution to the wind and synchronized my new iPhone with a newly downloaded copy of iTunes on the Windows desktop I am relegated to using while waiting for my laptop to be repaired. Unfortunately, I still had no luck.

Then it occurred to me to log into the iTunes Store in iTunes using my account. It was at this stage that iTunes informed me that I was viewing the wrong store, and transferred me over to the Canadian iTunes Store. One more synchronization of the iPhone was needed to transfer my iTunes Store credentials into the phone, and I was finally able to waste untold hours downloading applications.

I imagine this tip will apply to almost nobody, but here's hoping that if there's someone else out there that is so dazzled by the iPhone that they are unable to think coherently, as I was, that they will find in this post the help and understanding that they so desperately need. Or something like that.

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For the past year when it comes to the iPhone, us Canadians have had to watch enviously as our American neighbors got to have all the fun....

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Fernando

It sux, but brazilian store has a lot less apps then the american store. We don't even have google mobile app, last.fm, and lots of other freebies. There are no games as well.

I've found out that I can use the store from Colombia/Argentina with my brazilian CC, although I can't use american store. They at least have games.

I've been trying to change my account back to USA, but I guess I'll need a gift card for that.

July 22 2008 at 12:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

katie

dude, i was having a blonde moment myself and you just saved me! i thought there was no app happiness in my future :-( thank you!

July 21 2008 at 8:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Greg Fleet

I too had this problem, and was told by Rogers 611 folks that when they unlock the phone at the Rogers store, they use the iTunes US store. And all I needed to do was sync to my (Canadian) iTunes (like described above). So really the problem is that Rogers is using the US store -- do other countries have to use the US store to unlock too?

July 18 2008 at 7:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

John C

this REALLY frustrates me, because the "Canadian" App Store will not let me download the Ebay app, despite the fact that online I can log-in to either Ebay.com OR Ebay.ca with the same account and everthing works normally (though prices are for the domain that you are signed-in to).

Why the Ebay App is locked to the US only makes no sense to me, as it was the app that I anticipated the most, I am left out in the Canadian cold (or ridiculous humid heat on this particular day).

July 18 2008 at 3:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

KiwiBri

As chris said:
"Common knowledge for a Canadian with an iTunes account"

So true, havent you come accross this before???

July 18 2008 at 2:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

DanielX

Simple.

Your account was set up to make purchases in the Canadian iTune store because you live in Canada! Has nothing to do with GPS.It's isp related I assume.

Whenever you visit Apple you are probably going to Apple.com to browse or window shop.You are never at Apple.com/ca unless you purposely type in ".ca." which will take you to ".com/ca". Get it?

On a side note many of the apps/songs/albums in the U.S iTunes store are not available in the Canadian iTunes store.

Common knowledge for a Canadian with an iTunes account.

July 18 2008 at 2:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Patrick

On a side note to this discussion. iPhone developers need to get their sh*t together and starting building their location based apps with Canada in mind. I went to download at least 4 different applications which wouldn't work up here.

July 18 2008 at 12:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

sonicwind

so what kind of apps are in the Candadian store? GPS tracking of Sasquatch?

July 18 2008 at 12:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

.nate

i'm rather smart and i had the same problem with itunes USA and Hong Kong... guess some people can't see what others endure outside the 50...

July 18 2008 at 11:47 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Clifford

Funny, I saw someone at work with exactly that problem yesterday. It didn't occur to me that he might not have logged into iTunes at home before his first sync.

Thanks.

July 18 2008 at 11:44 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply