iTS
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.
Popularity: 10% [?]
iTunes global search must be revamped
As the iTunes Store has grown, its search feature hasn’t. Enter a bit of text in the search field, and you get results for
- Albums
- Podcasts
- Movies
- TV seasons
- Music videos
- iTunes Essentials
- iTunes U
- Apps
The results were manageable when we were just browsing music, television and movies. Today, it’s just too large. Even some of the sub-categories are getting crowded. Recently, the App store was receiving a lot of eBooks from AppEngines. Earlier this week, a “Books” section was added to the App Store.
That’s a good step, but I’d like to be able to filter results before execution. For example, an App Store search, a music search or podcasts. iTunes Power Search [link] does this pretty well, but I’d bet that most users don’t use it. This ought to be the default search procedure.
Of course, I’m old and crotchety, so take this with a gain of iSalt.
Thanks to Matt for the eBook App Store tip!
Popularity: 7% [?]
What happened: AT&T on iTunes activation problems
CIO.com interviewed AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel, who confirmed that Friday’s activation server outage was due to massive worldwide demand. This may not come as a surprise, but it’s the only official comment we’ve heard.
“The iTunes software appeared to have been so overwhelmed by demand [Friday] that customers were not able to go through that final stage and sync their iPhones,” Siegel said.
Apple has not commented on their servers’ performance on Friday. Nor have we learned any more about the other great mystery: the details behind the rocky MobileMe transition that lasted Wednesday through the weekend.
The CIO article also discusses Apple’s physical supply chain for the iPhone 3G, and how it performed for the rollout. Analyst consensus: top notch. “Good job to Apple for mastering the physical supply chain so well that you have this high-profile launch and your problems are not on the physical side — you have product in stock,” said Kevin O’Marah, chief strategy officer at AMR Research. [Via Reddit.]
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After the Line Blog
Well, I’m back home after five hours in line at the Apple Store, less $389.98 (I bought AppleCare and a 16GB iPhone 3G). What do I have to show for it?
As of 1:00 PM MDT, everything is suddenly working. I have an iPhone 3G, although I’ve now discovered that I don’t have 3G service at my home despite the AT&T coverage map showing that I do. My old iPhone is no longer sending or receiving phone calls, but at least I can use it as an iPod touch over Wi-Fi.
Read after the break for a recap of my morning:
Read the rest of this entry
Popularity: 7% [?]
App Store now officially available
The App Store has been accessible for awhile now, but it is now official. Fire up your copy of iTunes and you’ll be greeted with a new addition to the left hand navigation: App Store. As with the other sections of the iTunes Store you’ll find a number of sections: New Apps, Top Apps, Top Free Apps, and more.
The iPhone 2.0 firmware hasn’t been released as of yet, but browsing the App Store should keep your mind off that for a little while.
What is the first app you’re going to download? Thanks to everyone who sent this in. [Apple]
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