Comments on: In which she joins the ranting multitudes on Apple’s ridiculous iTunes gift card policies for Canadians buying apps

By: Another Voice in the Chorus

Another Voice in the Chorus — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 03:55:56 +0000

[...] Canadians in their iTunes store in dealing with gift cards. Danigirls post can be read here “In which she joins the ranting multitudes on Apple’s ridiculous iTunes gift card policies … Hopefully when Apple see how many people they are pissing off with this lame policy of not allowing [...]

By: tuneshop

tuneshop — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:07:57 +0000

sell us itunes account(not itunes gift code) —http://www.aionwowbuy.com

By: In which she joins the ranting multitudes on Apple's ridiculous … | Iphone Blog

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:59:50 +0000

[...] – Apple here: In which she joins the ranting multitudes on Apple's ridiculous … AKPC_IDS += [...]

By: Pamela Stewart

Pamela Stewart — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:05:05 +0000

Huh. Brutal. RT @DaniGirl: Did you know Cnds can't use an iTunes gift card to buy Apps? So not impressed! http://tinyurl.com/yd3nnof

By: annon

annon — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:20:35 +0000

try jail breaking your iTouch, then you get everything for free.

By: Amber

Amber — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:20:26 +0000

My husband ran into this problem, as well. It’s pretty irritating, especially when someone buys you the gift card just for that very purpose. Argh!

By: Barrie

Barrie — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:42:16 +0000

Count me among those masses as well. I don’t have a credit card, so no apps, games or software for me that isn’t free. Kind of makes the splurge for the larger gig ipod touch rather ridiculous. The canned responses are less than helpful but the lack of upfront information is inexcusable. I don’t imagine my whining and stomping of feet will help, but adding my voice to the complaints can’t hurt.
Barrie

By: Alex (h86)

Alex (h86) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:14:44 +0000

Hello Danigirl,
As tweeted earlier, and as highlighted in the comment above, there IS something in the Canadian market rules (taxes or otherwise) that prevents the usage of an iTiune gift cards to be used for the apps… I, too was set back with this rule, but I also think it’s stated (in fine prints) on the cards that you can use them to purchase music (and not apps…).
Again, I agree that Apple could probable try to work around this for the sake of our peace and ease of use, but we can’t only blame them for this situation in my opinion
Alex.

By: Alexandre

Alexandre — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:51:47 +0000

I’m one of the posters you list as “angry.” I do admit I was frustrated and I did post another blog entry in which I expressed something close to anger. But it really was more about frustration and puzzlement than about genuine anger.
Like you, I simply don’t understand why they don’t tell us. Apple did change a few things since I bought my own gift card, last year, but they haven’t addressed the situation in a satisfactory way.
And it does decrease my satisfaction level with Apple. Overall, it’s relatively high. Apple products, by themselves, have mostly given me satisfaction. Apple itself has usually proven responsive enough. But this restriction on gift cards on the Canadian App Store, and especially the lack of information about it, does shed a new light on Apple, Inc.

The one explanation I saw which may come close to what is happening has to do with taxes. Apparently, taxes are included in prices for tunes (“songs” on the iTunes Store) but not in prices for apps. So it seems like Apple may be losing money when apps or games are purchased with gift cards. But what this doesn’t explain is why the Canadian App Store is the only which suffers from this nor does it explain how, as you say, Nintendo and Sony can pull it off. There’s still something strange, there. My guess would be that Apple overprotects itself or applies a rule too strictly. But I don’t know anything and they’re not helping.

Recently, a commenter on my blog said that s/he was eventually able to get a refund from Apple, after getting her/his credit card charged for app purchases despite having a gift card. No idea if other people can get the same. The song credits that Apple gave me last year are almost running out, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to ask for a refund. But people who haven’t used their gift card credits may be able to get refunds.

As for mobile apps, I’d say the timing is still quite good to develop them. Most people expect Apple to come out with some kind of iPhoneOS-compatible tablet. A mobile-friendly platform that you might develop, using the iPhone OS as a base, might be quite relevant once that tablet comes out. Otherwise, other mobile OS choices may be interesting, including Android. No idea how difficult it is to code the same app for both iPhoneOS and Android, but it might be a good way to hedge your bets.

By: Another Voice in the Chorus

Another Voice in the Chorus — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:40:02 +0000

By: John Overall

John Overall — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:27:19 +0000

Hello Danigirl,
Sorry to see you have come apon this issue with the iTunes giftcards in Canada the same way so many of us have. Hopefully if Apple sees enough of these complains and upset consumers they will make a change. Thanks also for the link to my own soapbox version of this very annoying issue.

John Overall